World Pond Hockey Championship (Photo by New Brunswick Tourism/Flickr)

Before Bassett Park, it was a small wetland (if you can call it that) next to the Rinaldo’s house.  When shoveled off, its outline vaguely resembled Europe. There was always a grassy knoll or two where the puck would get hung up.  We played for hours upon hours.  I didn’t care if I couldn’t feel my toes. I was trying to be Gilbert Perreault (highlights here) leading the Buffalo Sabres to a Stanley Cup.

Climate Change Threat to Pond Hockey

Carbon pollution and climate change threatens to erase future generations’ ability to enjoy similar experiences. The fourth warmest winter in U.S. history has brought it home to places like Buffalo.  NOAA found that the average temperature for February was 5.4 degrees above normal.  How does this affect pond hockey? This is also what NOAA found:

The unusually warm temperatures also resulted in Lake Erie remaining open…with the lake temperature at 34 degrees on the [February] 29^th . . . the same as at the end of January. The normal date of lake freeze is January 21^st . . . placing us well past the normal date and suggesting a strong potential that this season could join the four other seasons where Lake Erie did not freeze.

This caused the annual Buffalo Pond Hockey Tournament on Lake Erie at Erie Basin Marina to move to land. What was expected to be a celebration of winter heritage was thrown out onto the streets!

The melting of the pond hockey heritage is not only occurring in Buffalo. A recent scientific study found that over the last 60 years climate change has steadily shortened the outdoor skating season in Canada. It also found that at the rate of global warming over the last 30 years, outdoor skating in Southwest Canada could disappear by mid-century. The study ominously concludes:

The ability to skate and play hockey outdoors is a critical component of Canadian identity and culture. Wayne Gretzky learned to skate on a backyard skating rink; our results imply that such opportunities may not available to future generations of Canadian children.

How You Can Help

Just as NWF’s new report speaks to the hunting and angling community, the state of pond hockey should be a call to action for all hockey fans.  Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just released proposed limits to the carbon pollution from new power plants that is contributing to climate change. The new proposal would, among other things, require new power plants to emit approximately 60% less carbon pollution than an average coal-fired power plant. Supporting these carbon pollution limits can help to tackle climate change that threatens to make the outdoor skating rink a distant memory.

So join NWF to save pond hockey and winter-dependent wildlife species, such as the moose, for the next generation.

Update April 18, 2012: I’d like to thank Sen. John Kerry (@JohnKerry) for voicing his concerns about the loss of this valued treasure:

Houston Toad Photo by: USFWS, Paige Najvar

The Houston toad is an endangered species that lives exclusively in southeast Texas. It is about 3 inches big, varies in color from light brown to gray or purplish gray, and has an alluring croak.  And it secretes chemicals in its skin to protect itself, such as serotonin and alkaloids, which are used as medicines to treat heart and nervous disorders in humans. Take Our Leap Day Frog Quiz!

Harmed by Record Drought

The Houston toad makes its home in loose, deep sands supporting woodland savannah and needs still or flowing waters for breeding. A five-year review of the toad’s status (see p. 12) conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows the need for water makes drought a significant threat to the toad.

As NWF has reported, climate change begets drought.  Since September of 2009, severe to exceptional drought has occurred in central Texas right in the heart of the Houston toad’s limited range. And last year was the driest 12-month period for Texas since measurements began according to Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, who says the Texas drought could continue until 2020.

Even more concerning for the Houston toad may be that climate change exacerbated drought begets wildfires.  Another recent environmental review (see p. 20) has pointed out that the toad’s need for moisture also means that “catastrophic wildlife fires could have devastating effects to Houston toad habitat.”

Devastated by Extreme Wildfires

Unfortunately, on September 4, 2011, a firestorm known as the Bastrop County Complex Fire engulfed Bastrop, Texas and by September 30th had destroyed 1,645 homes, burned over 34,000 acres, and killed two people. This fire is now regarded as the most catastrophic wildfire in Texas history.  The largest population of Houston toads exists in Bastrop County, one of the Houston toad’s few remaining habitats. The fires were so intense they could have wiped out the Houston toad.  A Texas State biologist recently called the Bastrop fire “an extinction level event.”

Read how climate change induced drought and wildfires have also made Monarch butterflies climate victims and impacted the livelihood of one Texas city.

Luckily, while the wildfires had a devastating impact on the Houston toad population, some were found to have survived.  Conservationists in Texas are working to rebuild the population, but the endangered toads will face an uphill battle as the extreme wildfires took away the plants and brush they rely on for cover and safety and the insects the toads eat.

New Carbon Pollution Limits Can Help

We shouldn’t wait any longer for more fire alarms about how the impacts of climate change are harming America’s wildlife heritage.  Climate change-causing carbon pollution is impacting not only the Houston toad but frogs as well.

You can help turn the tide for wildlife–from frogs to polar bears.  Join NWF Action Fund in celebrating the entire Leap Year by supporting new efforts to limit the carbon pollution coming from power plant smokestacks.

Each year EPA’s new air toxic pollution rules will protect wildlife and prevent 11,000 thousand premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks, 130,000 cases of childhood asthma and 6,300 cases of acute bronchitis. And it will prevent mercury exposure to children that can adversely affect their developing brains – including effect on their ability to walk, talk, read and learn.

Mercury-laden Fish in Oklahoma Lakes

Interestingly, Senator Inhofe’s homepage features a nice picture of Lake Hefner, Oklahoma.  Not advertised by the Senator’s website is that in July of 2010, a study by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (OK DEQ) found 16 lakes in Oklahoma where some species of fish contain levels of mercury above what is considered safe. As a result, the state governmental agency published its statewide fish consumption advisories to protect Oklahomans from consuming too much mercury –laden fish caught by anglers from the state’s lakes.

An Oklahoma DEQ Slide Show on Mercury provides this advisory:

Mercury Levels in Largemouth Bass Are a Problem Image alabama.gov

Oklahoma Statewide Consumption Advisory for Mercury. In order to protect the most sensitive populations, pregnant or nursing women, women of childbearing age and children younger than 15 years of age are advised to eat no more than one meal per week of predator fish.Predator species of fish in Oklahoma include all species of black bass (largemouth, smallmouth and spotted), striped bass, white bass, hybrid striped bass, walleye, saugeye, and flathead catfish.

As NWF’s Game Changers report has catalogued, the species of concern listed in Oklahoma are iconic to many sportsmen and women across the country and it is why over hundreds of hunter and angler groups from across the country have to written Congress to stop attacks on the Clean Air Act like Senator Inhofe’s new resolution.

Sen. Inhofe Siding with Polluter Money

So why does Senator Inhofe want to allow power plants to spew mercury and toxins into the air without national limits? Like many in Congress, he is choosing to side with polluter money instead of the public.

Oklahoma is home to five coal fired power plants that each generated over 400 MW of power. One such power plant, the Northeastern Plant, is owned by American Electric Power (AEP). In 2010, a report benchmarking power plant air pollution (see page 34) found AEP power plants to be the largest collective source of mercury air pollution among all the nation’s largest utilities.

Between 1998 and 2011, AEP spent over $10M lobbying Congress, including plenty over the last year, to rollback air pollution standards like EPA’s new mercury and air toxic limits.  For his part, Senator Inhofe has received nearly half-million dollars from electric utility industries in campaign contributions (including some from AEP) during his career including a whopping $280K this election cycle.

Stand Up for Limits on Air Pollution

You can help NWF stop this “pay for pollution” game. Tell Congress that you support EPA’s new mercury limits and you want to protect the air we breathe.

Join thousands of NWF supporters in taking action to stop mercury and carbon pollution from power plants smokestacks that harms our nation’s wildlife — from fish to moose to polar bears.

The polluter stranglehold on the House of Representatives continued today.

Power plants are the nation’s single largest source of climate change causing air pollution pumping roughly 2.4B tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year. Setting standards to limit this air pollution are critically needed to tackle the climate crisis and two recent Supreme Court rulings (2007 and 2011) have said the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to set these standards.

The new letter, however, continues the 2011 House track record of seeking rollbacks to the Clean Air Act.  It is also another classic example of how big polluters are running Washington.

Here is a quick glance at the big polluter connection to the letters’ three authors – all members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

• Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Chairman, House Energy & Commerce Committee. Top Industry Sector 2012 election cycle supporter: Electric Utilities.
  Among Largest Contributors: Southern Co., DTE Energy.
• Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Chair, House Energy & Commerce Cmte., Energy & Power Subcommittee. Top Industry Sector 2012 election cycle supporter: Electric Utilities. Among Largest Contributors: Southern Co.
• Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX). Top Industry Sector 2012 election cycle supporter: Electric Utilities. Among Largest Contributors: American Electric Power.

Of course, EPA’s new database on carbon pollution emissions shows that key contributors Southern Co., DTE Energy and American Electric Power (AEP) own a total of five of the nation’s ten largest carbon polluting power plants.

You can help NWF fight back against the big polluters. Take action now to support the new limits on power plant carbon pollution.

Propelled by $111M oil and gas lobbying and $106M in electric utility lobbying, the House treated the Act like a piñata at its fourth consecutive birthday party.  In 2011, the House passed at least eight bills that sought to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from updating our air pollution standards to protect our health, environment, and wildlife.

Polluter Politics: The Influence Equation

$111M Oil and Gas Lobbying + $3.5M from Oil & Gas PAC Contributions + Million Dollar Oil Ad Campaign = Big Oil Votes for More Air Pollution.

$106M in Electric Utility Lobbying + $5M in Electric Utility PAC contributions + Million Dollar Coal Ad Campaign = Dirty Power Plant and Coal Votes for More Air Pollution.

The House set out on its pro-polluter path in February by passing H.R. 1 – a broad spending bill that served as a platform for an all out polluter attack. The bill sought to prevent EPA from controlling carbon pollution that causes climate change, stop revisions of standards that limit soot in the air, and halt efforts to curb mercury from cement plants. The bill passed, 235-189.

Here is a look at the rest of the House’s 2011 attempted assault on the air we breathe.

US Capitol pictured with its power plant in foreground (via Flickr's Matthew Hurst)

Vote for More Air Pollution from Arctic Drilling. On June 22, 2011, the House passed H.R. 2021 which would have repealed limitations on protecting Arctic communities from the air pollution associated with offshore drilling for oil and gas.  See which polluters lobbied for the bill’s passage including, Anadarko Petroleum, Exxon-Mobil, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Chevron, here.  Vote: Passed 253-166

Votes for More Mercury, Arsenic, and Other Toxic Air Pollutants:

• Mercury and Smog Causing Air Pollution from Power Plants. On September 23, 2011, the House voted on H.R. 2401 which would have delayed both EPA’s new limits on mercury and new limits on smog causing air pollutants from the nation’s power plants. Power plants are the nation’s largest source of mercury pollution. See which polluters lobbied for the bill’s passage, including Southern Co., Peabody Energy, Progress Energy, and Arch Coal, here. Vote: Passed 249-169
• Mercury and Air Toxics from Cement Plants. On October 6, 2011, the House passed H.R. 2681. This bill sought to nullify new EPA rules that would require cement kilns to reduce their emissions of toxic air pollutants and would have delayed any reductions in toxic air pollution from cement kilns until 2018 at the earliest. Cement kilns represent the third largest sources of mercury and toxic air pollutants in the country. See which polluters lobbies for the bill’s passage including, Peabody Energy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Portland Cement Association, here. Vote: Passed, 262-181
• Mercury and Air Toxics from Factories. On October 13, 2011, the House passed H.R. 2250. This bill sought to nullify EPA’s rules that require industrial boilers and incinerators to reduce emissions of toxic air pollutants and would have delayed reductions in toxic air pollution from these sources until 2018 at the earliest.  Industrial facilities and factories that generate some of their own electricity and steam are the nation’s second largest sources of mercury and toxic air pollution. See which polluters lobbied for the bill’s passage, including the American Forest & Paper association, Peabody Energy, Exxon-Mobil and Koch Industries here. Vote: Passed, 275 – 142.

Vote for More and Even More Air Pollution.  On December 7, 2011, the House voted on H.R. 10, a broad bill that would have handcuffed EPA’s ability to update a wide number of air pollution standards by the Clean Air Act.  See which polluters lobbied for the bill’s passage, including Arch Coal, Koch Industries and Southern Co., here. Vote:  Passed 241-184.

Vote for More Particulate (Soot) Air Pollution. On December 8, 2011, the House passed H.R. 1633 which sought to prohibit the EPA from proposing, finalizing, implementing, or enforcing any updated limits on coarse particulates (i.e. soot) under the Clean Air Act. Particulate air pollution is a leading cause of respiratory illness across the country. See which polluters lobbied for the bill’s passage, including the American farm Bureau, National Cattleman’s Beef Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, here. Vote: Passed 268-150.

Importantly, none of the House-passed bills became law. Last year, the brazen attack on our health and environment stalled in the Senate. And in fact, as NWF has recently documented, the EPA was able to make significant gains made in reducing our mercury and carbon pollution.

As we look toward 2012, join the National Wildlife Federation in taking action to tell Congress you don’t like their pro-pollution sales pitch.

Visit our Action Center!

NWF has been a leader in finding ways to address the climate crisis. While a comprehensive climate plan and a new federal initiative is a more responsible and responsive solution to the climate crisis, NWFers can celebrate several victories over the past year, such as:

• Tackling the major root sources of carbon pollution – cars and trucks and the oil and coal industries;
• Fighting off polluters’ attacks on the EPA when climate deniers and industry naysayers tried repeatedly to undermine EPA’s proper exercise of its authority under the Clean Air Act; and
• Intervening in a federal court case to protect the science that underpins the agency’s actions to limit carbon pollution under the Clean Air Act.

Pollution from Cars and Trucks

Transportation accounts for 27% of U.S. carbon pollution. (Flickr: neoporcupine)

Transportation accounts for 27% of U.S. carbon pollution, the second largest source. NWF has spearheaded the national Go 60 campaign key Midwest states and built support for several key EPA efforts. NWF victories include:

• By 2030, new EPA greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions standards for cars built during model years 2012-2016 will reduce carbon pollution by 307 million metric tons (MMT) annually, approximately a 21% reduction.
• New limits on medium- and heavy-duty trucks that will strengthen fuel economy between seven and 20 percent by 2018 and cut carbon emissions by 76 million metric tons (MMT) annually by 2030.

NWF’s advocacy will help to reduce over 660 million metric tons of carbon pollution per year by 2030. A one-third reduction is nothing to sneeze at, especially after so many years of inaction.

Pollution from Power Plants

Electricity generation is the largest source of pollution. (Photo: Dylan Passmore)

• Generating over 50,000 public comments backing EPA’s new limits on mercury and toxic air pollution. NWF’s “Game Changers” report highlights how the Clean Air Act protects wildlife, habitats and the nation’s hunting and angling heritage. The mercury rule, finalized in December, will reduce mercury pollution by 91% and could retire 10 gigawatts of coal-fired electricity – a reduction on annual carbon emissions by approximately 70 MMT.
• Supporting the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that could shut down five gigawatts of coal-fired electricity generation which could in turn reduce carbon emissions by roughly 35 MMT. NWF helped stop Congress from delaying and overturning this rule.

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson has explained, “the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will protect millions of families and children from harmful and costly air pollution and provide the American people with health benefits that far outweigh the costs of compliance.”

Pollution from the Oil and Gas Industry

Oil refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana. (Courtesy of Planetware.com)

• Support new air pollution limits to reduce the fugitive, uncontrolled methane emissions that occur during oil and natural gas drilling and production. These limits could reduce methane pollution by the equivalent of 65 MMT of carbon dioxide annually. In addition to NWF’s recent report, “No More Drilling in the Dark”, on natural gas fracking, NWF will continue to speak out until the rule is finalized in 2012.
• Pressure EPA to issue new standards to reduce carbon pollution from oil refineries. The 150 oil refineries throughout the U.S. emit 205 MMT of carbon pollution each year and about 3% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. In 2011, NWF testified at EPA public hearings in support of reducing these emissions.

Early this year we expect the EPA to propose the first-ever carbon pollution standards for new and existing power plants. If sufficiently stringent, the standards could effectively prevent the construction of any new coal power plants and lead to significant pollution reductions from existing, old and inefficient power plants.

Instead of bashing EPA and promoting mischievous bills to undercut the agency’s work, Congress should be bolstering EPA and helping the agency implement the laws that several bipartisan Congresses and administrations passed. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson summed it up nicely: “Families across the country, including my own, will benefit from the simple fact of being able to breathe cleaner air. That is what environmental protection and the work of the EPA is all about.”

NWF’s gains are significant but there is still a lot more to do and we need your help. Donate to help NWF implement carbon pollution limits on power plants for a cleaner future.

Dr. Amanda Staudt is the lead author of the National Wildlife Federation’s series of scientific reports on how the climate crisis is fueling extreme weather.

Today, the insurance giant Munich Re releaseda comprehensive review that puts a number on the costs of the United States’ 2011 year of extreme weather.  In total, insured losses in the U.S. totaled $35.9 billion in 2011. This is $12 billion above the 2000 to 2010 average loss of $23.8 billion.  Below are some of the report’s other highlights.

You can view the entire Munich Re presentation here.

Image courtesy NOAA.gov

• In 2011 thunderstorm loses led to insured losses exceeding $25 billion. This is more than double the previous record. It was also the deadliest thunderstorm season in over 75 years.

Extreme Wildfires

• 2011 was the worst wildfire year on record in Texas due to persistent drought.
• In spring 2011, over 3 million acres burned in west Texas from 12 major fires with over 200 homes and businesses destroyed, $50 million insured loss.
• In September 2011, the Bastrop County Complex Fire near San Antonio destroyed over 1,600 homes causing insured losses of $530 million.

Extreme Mississippi River Flooding

• In 2011, heavy snowmelt, saturated soils, and over 20 inches of rain in a month lead to the worst flooding of the lower Mississippi River since 1927.
• Record river crests at Vicksburg and Natchez; Morganza Spillway opened in Louisiana to protect Baton Rouge and New Orleans from possible levee failures.
• The flooding caused extensive agricultural damage, property, and inland marine losses. The estimated economic losses are $2 billion and insured losses of $500 million.

And just in case you may think 2011 was an aberration, the report suggests that this is part of a trend that is consistent with the scientific predictions of mounting extreme events finding that:

• Average annual winter storm losses have almost doubled since the early 1980s.
• Average thunderstorm losses have increased fivefold since 1980.

Clearly, waiting any longer to limit the nation’s sources of carbon pollution is like adding fuel to the storms and extreme weather events that are costing our country dearly. There is some news good on that front.  In 2012, we can take action to start pushing back against these real world impacts of climate change.  Later this month, the EPA is expected to propose new carbon pollution limits on the nation’s power plants. Power plants are the nation’s single largest source of climate change causing air pollution pumping roughly 2.4B tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year.

Visit our Action Center and see how you can help!

Power plant in Morro Bay, CA via kafka4prez/flickr

Twenty plus years in the making, the new pollution limits on power plants will cut mercury emissions by 91%, reduce acid gas emissions 91%, and significantly cut arsenic, lead and nickel emissions.

Mercury Standards a Long Time Coming

The announcement is a tremendous victory for people and wildlife. National Wildlife Federation’s effort to curb mercury air pollution started back in September 1999 when we released Clean the Rain, Clean the Lakes: Mercury in Rain Is Polluting the Great Lakes (pdf)

The report warned of mercury’s potency as a neurotoxin that can cause neurological and brain damage at low levels in people and reproductive hazards in wildlife.

Excerpt from NWF’s 1999 mercury report:

The Clean the Rain Campaign…will press for the control and eventual elimination of mercury emissions that are contaminating the rain. It will call for the implementation of the following actions…

Coal-fired power plants must cut and eventually eliminate their combustion of coal (a major source of mercury, as well as smog and acid rain-producing pollutants). 

New Rules Will Protect Children, Improve Health, Create Jobs

Each year, EPA’s new air toxic pollution rules will prevent 11,000 thousand of premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks, 130,000 cases of childhood asthma and 6,300 cases of acute bronchitis. And it will prevent mercury exposure to children that can adversely affect their developing brains – including effect on their ability to walk, talk, read and learn.

The rules will also provide employment for thousands. The updating of older power plants with modern air pollution control technology will support 46,000 new short-term construction jobs and 8,000 long-term utility jobs.

And as NWF has documented, the new pollution rules are also a huge present to wildlife. Mercury pollution belching out of power plants settles in our lakes and rivers where microscopic organisms convert the inorganic mercury into methylmercury. This form of mercury accumulates up the food chain in fish and then other into other animals when they eat fish. As a result, species from the common loon to the river otter to the Florida panther are impacted by mercury.

Read NWF’s report Game Changers: Air Pollution, a Warming Climate, and the Troubled Future for America’s Hunting and Fishing Heritage that shows how mercury, carbon dioxide, and other air pollutants are directly impacting numerous species, including black ducks, moose, and walleye, that are revered as part of our country’s angling, hunting and conservation heritage.

Over the last year, thousands of NWF members and supporters have continued the campaign started in 1999. They have attended public hearings, signed postcards, made phone calls, and sent over 50,000 messages supporting the EPA’s new efforts on mercury and pushing back against polluters attempts in Congress to stop these new air pollution protections.

So join NWF as we thank the EPA for taking action to protect your kids and wildlife from the dangers of mercury and toxic air pollution. Together, we can all breathe a little easier.

Learn more about mercury pollution >>

EPA' Administrator Jackson (image emagazine.com)

Let’s just say the sooner we get on with this effort the better.  As NWF’s Senior Scientist Amanda Staudt blogs today, a new report by the Nobel Prize winning U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says carbon pollution induced climate change will make the drought and flooding events that have battered the United States more frequent in years to come.  

Right now, our nation’s power plants can belch carbon dioxide pollution into our air without any limits. A recent piece in the New York Review of Books by Yale economist William Nordhaus aptly describes why it is urgent that we address this source of carbon pollution:

 

[The] burning coal is very dirty, releasing both conventional pollutants and greenhouse gases. Per unit of energy, coal emits 27 percent more CO2 than oil and 78 percent more CO2 than natural gas. . . . In the aggregate, the emissions of CO2 from coal-fired electricity- generating facilities are the largest single industrial source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. They make up one third of all emissions in an industry that constitutes only about one half of one percent of the US economy! Moreover, studies indicate that reducing coal-fired generation is the least expensive way for the US to reduce its carbon emissions in the near term (emphasis added).

The new pollution limits will be established into two parts. In January, the administration will propose limits that any new power plant must meet before it can be constructed.  NWF expects that the critically important second part of the standards - new carbon pollution limits on the nation’s existing power plants – will be proposed  later in the Spring of 2012.  

This is where you come in! The public will have an opportunity to (and needs to) comment in support of setting strong air pollution standards that reduce carbon pollution. Polluters will surely go all out to push back on this effort and we need to stop them in their tracks.

Visit our Action Center and see how you can help this effort!

To see the connection, take a look at these maps. The first is map of Texas showing active wildfires during September. The second map shows the monarch migration route through Texas. The convergence is pretty clear. The wildfire and the central flyway migration route overlap through Central Texas.

image:redstate.com

image: texasento.net

So how is climate change involved in the equation? As NWF has reported, climate change begets drought and drought begets wildfires.  So when wildfires occur at extreme levels, wildlife like the monarch end up being placed on the frontline of these climate-fueled events.

All of this brings into focus that climate change is impacting wildlife now and that it is urgent that we begin to confront the climate crisis.

Speak up for monarch butterflies and other wildlife today >>