You can never step in the same river twice, the saying goes. According to a new report about how climate change is expected to affect the Chesapeake Bay, that saying may become truer than ever.
In Climate Change and the Chesapeake Bay, a group of scientists and water quality experts found that, because of climate change, “the Bay’s functioning by the end of this century will differ significantly from that observed during the last century….” The report concluded that affects of climate change are already occurring and that “certain consequences” are likely:
The Oct. 27 report goes on to recommend a series of monitoring and adaptation strategies, as well as noting the need to drastically lower carbon emissions.
Meanwhile, even if the future effects of climate change were not causes for concern, the Bay’s health stagnates. This summer, EPA officials admitted that the 2010 cleanup deadlines, which were set in 2000, will not be met. Frustrated by this lack of progress, a coalition that includes the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Maryland and Virginia watermen associations and several others announced on Oct. 29 that it would sue EPA to force new deadlines and take more aggressive action.
The status quo for the Bay isn’t good enough, and climate change will make things worse. Lawsuits to push action are one solution, but much more must be done. As CPR points out in its white paper, The Clean Water Act: A Blueprint for Reform, the Clean Water Act is a 20th century tool that is ill-equipped to deal with 21st century problems, including climate change. Many reforms are needed. We are barely treading water with the Bay’s health now. Thanks to climate change, we may be over our heads sooner than we think.
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Shana Campbell Jones | November 6, 2008
You can never step in the same river twice, the saying goes. According to a new report about how climate change is expected to affect the Chesapeake Bay, that saying may become truer than ever. In Climate Change and the Chesapeake Bay, a group of scientists and water quality experts found that, because of […]
Margaret Clune Giblin | November 5, 2008
Climate change is such an unprecedented challenge that sometimes it can seem overwhelming to think through its full range of impacts, let alone develop policy solutions to address them. Yet as policymakers delve into the details of the many ways in which climate change will impact global societies and the environment, the most promising solutions […]
Matt Shudtz | November 4, 2008
In CPR’s recent white paper, Saving Science from Politics, Rena Steinzor, Wendy Wagner and I proposed reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to strengthen the Act’s “adverse effects” reporting requirements. Under TSCA, registration of a chemical with EPA triggers a continuing obligation on regulated firms to submit to EPA any information they obtain that […]
Thomas McGarity | November 3, 2008
This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that could give a boost to the Bush Administration’s backdoor “tort reform” efforts – an increasingly transparent effort to shield industry from litigation over defective products. The issue in Wyeth v. Levine is whether the Food and Drug Administration’s labeling requirements preempt […]
Shana Campbell Jones | October 30, 2008
Next year, Congress is all but certain to try to tackle climate change legislation again, and the stakes are higher than ever. Further delay in federal action would only compound the problem. But while Congress has been sitting on its hands for more than a decade, many states have taken action, seeing climate change not […]
James Goodwin | October 30, 2008
Halloween—a day on which not everything is as it seems—offers a fitting occasion to ponder the possible effects of globalization on the U.S. regulatory system and its ability to protect Americans. Globalization is a complex subject, and, like the bandages of a reanimated mummy, its ramifications could probably be unwound indefinitely. Its proponents wax […]
Matthew Freeman | October 29, 2008
The battle over bisphenol A (BPA) in plastic baby bottles took another interesting turn today when the FDA’s own scientific advisory panel issued a stinging rebuke of the agency for its determination that the toxic substance is not harmful. According to the Washington Post, FDA did not take into consideration scores of studies that […]
James Goodwin | October 28, 2008
Imagine being told that the global economy had lost between $2 trillion and $5 trillion in the last year. Presented with this information, you would probably think immediately of the seemingly ever-worsening economic crisis now sweeping the globe. In fact, that number refers to the annual economic losses attributable to global deforestation. For the record: […]
Shana Campbell Jones | October 24, 2008
Earlier this month, and after six years of delay, EPA announced that it had decided not to regulate perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel and munitions that has leached into water supplies in various parts of the country, often near military bases. As it happened, the announcement came just a few days before the release […]