Climate Change

CONSTRUCTION BOILERMAKERS could see a rise in work as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules push utilities to invest in new pollution controls, according to a report commissioned by Ceres, a coalition of environmentalists and institutional investors.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency may soon increase its estimates of life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from natural gas-fueled power generation, according to an article in Pro Publica by Abrahm Lustgarden. Citing an EPA technical support document, Lustgarden points out that the higher estimates would mean that natural gas is only marginally more climate-friendly than coal.

BOILERMAKERS WERE represented for a second year in a row at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change last December. The meeting, in Poznan, Poland, included an event cosponsored by the Boilermakers at which Dir. of Legislative Affairs Abe Breehey discussed how Boilermakers can perform many of the jobs needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including manufacturing key elements of the green technology supply chain.

A STUDY CONDUCTED by BBC Research and Consulting concludes that developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology and installing it in electric-power generation facilities will create millions of high-skilled, high-wage jobs for American workers. Throughout his presidential campaign, Pres. Obama repeatedly cited CCS technology as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while continuing to meet the nation’s growing need for electrical power.

IN LATE 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), comprising thousands of scientists from around the world, published its fourth assessment on climate change, warning the nations of the world that evidence of global warming is “unequivocal” and that the link between human activities (primarily the burning of fossil fuels) and rising worldwide temperatures can be stated with “very high confidence.”

For that many scientists to agree on such a strong statement requires thousands of measurements, studies, and experiments. It should surprise no one that the scientists of the IPCC have edged slowly toward this pronouncement over the past 20 years as the evidence mounted.

THE DISCOVERY OF global warming has its roots in an unlikely source — the search for an explanation of the ice ages.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the idea of ice ages was new, and scientists were clamoring for an explanation of how they began. Weather fluctuations are normal, but always within narrow confines. What would cause temperatures to drop so much that ice sheets miles thick would cover vast reaches of the northern hemisphere?

He wants to remove Davis-Bacon protections from bill that promises 50 years of Boilermaker work

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL candidate John McCain issued a statement June 5 supporting the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, a bill supported by the Boilermakers union, but first he wants to make one big change – remove all Davis-Bacon requirements.