Climate news roundup - 8/1

This week, the U.S. Senate failed (yet again) to pass legislation that would help us tackle global warming and revive our stagnant economy:

U.S. legislation extending renewable energy and energy-efficiency tax credits failed a key procedural vote on Wednesday and lawmakers will now set the bill aside, at least temporarily.

The extensive tax package includes measures providing an eight-year extension of solar energy investment credits, and a one-year extension of tax credits for biodiesel, renewable diesel, and wind power.

The bill required 60 "yes" votes in the 100-member Senate to move forward, but received only 51, with 43 opposed.

The State of California announced this week that it will sue the EPA over greenhouse gas regulations. No, this isn't déjà vu or a recycled story--it's yet another lawsuit:

California will sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for "wantonly" ignoring its duty to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ships, aircraft, and construction and agricultural equipment, state Attorney General Jerry Brown said on Wednesday.

Brown said the lawsuit, to be announced at a news conference at the Port of Long Beach on Thursday and filed in Washington after a 180-day waiting period mandated by the Clean Air Act, was meant to force the EPA into action.

The lawsuit follows two similar ones this year by California in conjunction with other states on car and truck emissions and ozone pollution.

Speaking of the EPA, Senate Democrats are calling for Administrator Johnson to step down:

Four Democratic senators called Tuesday for Stephen Johnson to resign as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to begin an investigation into whether he lied in testimony to a Senate committee.

The senators, all members of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said Johnson — the first career scientist to head the agency — had repeatedly succumbed to political pressure on decisions vital to protecting health and the environment.

In a letter the senators sent to Mukasey on Tuesday, they also allege that Johnson made false statements before the committee in January when he said that he alone had decided California should not regulate the gases blamed for global warming from motor vehicles.

Is the U. K. actually moving backwards on emissions control? Two new reports conclude this is the case, due to a loophole in international standards:

The UK has been living under a delusion over its claim to be cutting greenhouse gases, according to two reports that will shake the climate change debate.

They show that instead of falling since the 1990s, UK greenhouse emissions have been growing in line with the economy.

This is dependent on emissions from aviation, shipping and imported goods being counted.

At the moment they are excluded under the internationally agreed system for carbon accounts.

Both reports are from the respected Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) based at the University of York.

Finally: At the northernmost parts of Canada, global warming literally tried to chase a group of tourists out of the country:

Thawing permafrost, eroding lakeshores, a melting glacier and fears of flash floods at a national park on Baffin Island have forced the evacuation of 21 tourists and led officials to declare much of the wilderness reserve off-limits.

Geologists and ice experts will assess what appear to be the latest dramatic effects of climate change in Canada's Arctic.

"This summer's events are beyond anything we're used to," Scott said from Iqaluit. "This is no doubt a result of climate change."

Got any must-read climate stories? Share them in the comments!