Each week, I review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted over at the RFF Library Blog.
Colorado Oil and Gas Task Force Final Report
[AP] …[Governor] Hickenlooper spoke on the same day that his oil and gas task force submitted nine recommendations for easing tension created by the oil and gas industry in the state, often when wells are drilled near homes and schools… - via the Keystone Center for the Colorado Oil and Gas Task Force
Anthropogenic Warming has Increased Drought Risk in California
California is currently in the midst of a record-setting drought. The drought began in 2012 and now includes the lowest calendar-year and 12-mo precipitation, the highest annual temperature, and the most extreme drought indicators on record. The extremely warm and dry conditions have led to acute water shortages, groundwater overdraft, critically low streamflow, and enhanced wildfire risk. Analyzing historical climate observations from California, we find that precipitation deficits in California were more than twice as likely to yield drought years if they occurred when conditions were warm. We find that although there has not been a substantial change in the probability of either negative or moderately negative precipitation anomalies in recent decades, the occurrence of drought years has been greater in the past two decades than in the preceding century... - via Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Noah S. Diffenbaugh, Daniel L. Swain and Danielle Touma
Double Impact: Why China Needs Coordinated Air Quality and Climate Strategies
[From Website] …this paper examines China’s current approach to tackling air pollution and carbon mitigation nationally and argues that more incentives are needed if China hopes to meet its “peak carbon” goal by 2030. - via Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Tsinghua University in Beijing / by Valerie J. Karplus
Delivering the Goods: Making the Most of North America’s Evolving Oil Infrastructure
[Oil and Gas Journal] The US crude oil renaissance has created strong demand for expanded US transportation systems, resulting in five primarily challenges, a recent Center for Strategic and International Studies report concluded. - via Center for Strategic and International Studies / by Frank A. Verrastro, Michelle Melton, Sarah O. Ladislaw, Lisa Hyland and Kevin Book
[Green Car Congress] The California Energy Commission adopted its 2014 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) Update, which outlines, among many things, how the state is working to transform the transportation system to zero- and near-zero technologies and fuels to meet its climate and clean air goals. This report highlights the importance of incentives in helping speed this transition and specifically explores the role Assembly Bill 8, which makes more than $2 billion available for public investment, can play in helping to achieve this progress. - via California Energy Commission
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