Warmer temperatures threaten California vineyards

In the next 30 years, high-value vineyards in Northern California could shrink by 50% because of global warming, according to a new Stanford University study released Thursday.

Applying scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scientists used a climate system computer model and found that Napa and Santa Barbara counties could experience very hot days during the growing season, with temperatures reaching 95 Fahrenheit or higher. The number of hot days will be greater, they say, with about 10 more sweltering days than usual.

As a result, the amount of grape-growing land is projected to decline over the next three decades, the authors wrote.

"There will likely be significant localized temperature changes over the next three decades," said Noah Diffenbaugh, coauthor of the study and a center fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford. "One of our motivations for the study was to identify the potential impact of those changes, and also to identify the opportunities for growers to take action and adapt."

High-value growers in California may need to take into account warmer weather and integrate climate information into their cultivation and practices, Diffenbaugh said. Two counties that he found would have cooler temperatures, Yamhill County in Oregon and Walla Walla County in Washington, can prepare for more optimal growing seasons.

"It's risky for a grower to make decisions that consider climate change, because those decisions could be expensive and the climate may not change exactly as we expect," Diffenbaugh said. "But there's also risk in decisions that ignore global warming, because we're finding that there are likely to be significant localized changes in the near term."

The peer-reviewed study, which has yet to undergo the scrutiny of the larger scientific community, is based on the Copenhagen Accords greenhouse gas target of 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline, or about a 23% increase in atmosphere gases by 2040. This could raise the average global temperature by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, a conservative scenario, said Diffenbaugh. 

Researchers compared the computer model’s simulations with actual weather data collected between 1960 and 2010 to see if their model could accurately replicate past temperatures. They combined new and historical data and found that all four counties were likely to experience higher average temperatures during growing seasons.

Certain varietals, such as Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa Valley, grow at average temperatures of 68 F, with fewer than 30 hot days. But with temperatures projected to rise by 2 degrees and 10 more hot days, hospitable conditions for growing would decrease.

On the other hand, Yamhill and Walla Walla counties will see more land suitable for high-value varietals.

These projections could have a large effect on California's $16.5-billion wine industry, which with more than 500,000 acres of vineyards, produces on average more than 5 million gallons per year and accounts for nearly 90% of the nation’s total wine production, according to the Wine Institute, a state winemakers trade organization.

Diffenbaugh suggests winemakers adapt to warmer conditions by planting heat-tolerant vines that can survive up to 45 very hot days and average temperatures of 71 F, but these varietals can lower the quality of wine. Growers can also use trellis systems to shade vines, use irrigation to cool plants and adjust fermentation processes.

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-- Ashlie Rodriguez (Twitter: @ashlierodriguez)

Photo: On a foggy morning Peter Cargasacchi checks the grapes he will use to make Pinot Noir at Cargasacchi Vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills in Lompoc. Credit: Anne Cusack /Los Angeles Times

Yucca Mountain nuclear storage in, renewables out in House energy, water bill

There's a small surprise in the energy and water bill that passed a key House panel Thursday: Funding was restored for licensing and development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada.

Two years ago, the Senate's energy spending bill officially ended funding of the $13.5-billion project, fulfilling a promise by the Obama administration and the Nevada congressional delegation, led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Technically, the plan to store 77,000 tons of waste from the civilian nuclear industry at the site 90 miles north of Las Vegas never died; the 1987 law establishing Yucca Mountain as the nation's storage site remains on the books. And there has been nominal funding for work unrelated to waste shipment at the site. Two states that want to ship waste to the site have sued the Obama administration, and that case remains active.

The House spending bill offers only about $35 million for the project, $10 million of which goes to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue its license application review.

The provision is tucked amid steep cuts to renewable-energy programs, part of a $6-billion paring of the Department of Energy budget. That department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy takes a $1.9-billion hit from what Obama had requested. 

The bill passed the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee and is expected to pass the full Appropriations Committee. It stands a chance in the Republican-controlled House but could face trouble in the Senate.

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Photo: The south portal of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site in Nevada. Credit: Joe Cavaretta/Associated Press

Budget rider would lift wolf protections in northern Rockies

 

When Congress passes the federal budget, it’s increasingly likely lawmakers will also be sealing the fate of wolves in the northern Rockies. An unrelated rider quietly attached by legislators from Montana and Idaho to the crucial spending compromise would for the first time in history allow Congress to cancel federal protections for an endangered species.

The recovery of wolves near Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and the surrounding ranchlands has been fought out in the courts for years. But never has the controversy come so close to a simple gunshot to the head as this week.

Not only is the budget rider a near done-deal,  requiring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Utah, but a federal judge in Montana over the weekend rejected a proposed settlement that might have provided the only momentum against a congressional coup de grace.

“This creates a very dangerous precedent for the Endangered Species Act,” said Josh Mogerman, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C.

“For the first time in history, Congress is removing a species … from the Endangered Species Act based on political, rather than biological, judgments,” the public interest law firm, Earthjustice, said in a statement.

A major expansion of coal mining planned in Wyoming's Powder River Basin

Vast coal reserves in Wyoming will be auctioned over the next five months, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday, despite the Obama administration's push to transition the nation's energy supply to cleaner, renewable sources.

The U.S. relies on coal, the most polluting of all energy sources but one of the least expensive, for 45% of its electricity consumption. Environmentalists have fought the expansion of coal leasing, citing its heavy contribution to climate change, as well as the effect of coal dust and toxic air pollution on human health.

The four coal leases next to existing strip mines in the Powder River Basin -- the largest coal-producing region in the United States -- total 758 million tons and will take between 10 and 20 years to mine.

Coal from the Powder River Basin used in power plants accounts for nearly 14% of all U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Scientists say such carbon emissions are trapping heat in Earth's atmosphere.

The Obama administration remains committed to an "all of the above" energy policy that relies on both renewable and nonrenewable sources, Salazar said. "The president also knows that we need to embrace and encourage safe development of traditional energy -- coal, oil, gas and nuclear," he said.

Fight intensifies over West Coast coal exports to Asia

 

Plans for a major West Coast coal export facility-- the subject of an intense fight over greenhouse gases and U.S. coal supplies to Asia--took a new turn when Millennium Bulk Terminals Inc. announced it was withdrawing its permit for the facility near Longview, Wash.

The company -- faced with intense public opposition when it was revealed that it was quietly talking of building a facility up to 14 times bigger than it had publicly admitted -- said it will submit a new permit application to allow full public discussion of all development alternatives.

"To show our continued commitment as a good neighbor, we will do an Environmental Impact Statement to address concerns that have been raised about this project, and we will ensure that all parties continue to have a voice in the process going forward," Joe Cannon, CEO of Millennium, said in a statement.

He said the company will now do a full site capacity analysis to evaluate the effects of shipping a variety of commodities, including coal, aluminum and cement, "in various amounts."

In a reflection of the massive market demand for bringing Montana and Wyoming coal to Asia, plans for a second major export facility got underway last month in northern Washington state, 17 miles south of the Canadian border, where a company called SSA Marine is proposing to build the largest shipping, stevedoring and warehousing facility on the West Coast of the U.S.

The proposed Gateway Pacific terminal near Bellingham, which began environmental reviews on Feb. 28, already has agreements to ship 24 million tons of coal a year to Asia.

Last coal plant in Pacific Northwest to shut down starting in 2020

The last coal-fired power plant in the Pacific Northwest will shut down completely by 2025 under an agreement announced Saturday by Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire. The first boiler of TransAlta's 1,460-megawatt plant in Centralia, Wash., is set to go offline in 2020 and the second in 2025.

“This agreement is sending a message that states are getting serious about combating global-warming pollution and are taking steps to open up markets for home-grown clean energy,” said Bruce Nilles, deputy conservation director with the Sierra Club, whose Beyond Coal Campaign has been involved in the negotiations. Nilles hinted at the breakthrough during a keynote speech at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, Ore., but commented only after the announcement.

The only other such plant in the Pacific Northwest, the PG&E plant near Boardman, Ore., is already under an agreement to go offline in 2020.

Negotiations have been underway on the Washington plant for two years but accelerated over the last few months as the governor worked with environmental groups, unions and members of the community in southwest Washington and TransAlta to meet the state’s clean-energy goals. In 2009, Gregoire signed an executive order directing the state to apply mandated greenhouse-gas-emissions performance standards by no later than Dec. 31, 2025.
 
Saturday’s agreement moves up the timeline for meeting those performance standards for one of the two boilers to Dec. 31, 2020; the other boiler is still set to close Dec. 31, 2025.

The Sierra Club and other groups have been hammering at the coal industry over the last decade, and at coal-fired power plants in particular, as a leading source of environmental toxins and greenhouse-gas emissions.  A Bush administration energy plan had proposed 150 new coal-fired power plants, later increased to 200. Litigation and public outcry have stopped most them. Of the 200 proposed plants, 150 have been dropped, 16 have been built, and the remainder are still the subject of ongoing litigation and negotiation.

Los Angeles is also the target of a clean-energy campaign by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power buys about 40% of its power from coal-fired plants in Utah, Nevada and New Mexico.

Nilles points out that California, Oregon and Washington have no coal resources and must import coal, so transitioning to cleaner fuels also means economic benefits, as the states spend on gas, wind, solar and clean energy innovations instead. “Shutting down coal offers a huge boost for clean-energy entrepreneurs, many of whom are in California, Oregon and Washington,” he added.

The Washington agreement includes provisions to protect jobs in the Centralia area and should not result in layoffs. In a press release, Gregoire said, “What a proud day for the Centralia community and all of Washington state.” She also prodded the Washington Legislature to quickly implement the agreement.

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-- Dean Kuipers

Photo: An agreement to shut the last coal-fired plants in the Pacific Northwest sends a signal to other utilities that depend on coal, such as Southern California Edison, which gets electricity from the Four Corners power complex in New Mexico. Credit: Jerry McBride / Durango Herald

National parks: A missed deadline to curb haze

 

More than three decades after Congress ordered state and federal officials to clear the haze that obscures vistas from America's national parks and wilderness areas, progress has slowed to a near-halt.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to meet a deadline Saturday to approve most state plans aimed at curbing pollution from coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities in order to improve visibility at 156 federally-protected areas such as the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rainier and Shenandoah.

The agency hasn't formally approved any state plans — or come up with its own, as required — and won't do so by the deadline. "We will not have final federal plans in place by Jan. 15," the agency said in an e-mail to the Associated Press on Friday. It has proposed partial approval of Idaho's plan, a partial federal plan for New Mexico and a federal plan for the Four Corners area on tribal land.

The agency added that "there is progress in every state toward visibility improvements, reductions in harmful emissions and the development of state plans."

But Stephanie Kocish, a lawyer for the Washington-based National Parks Conservation Association, said the group next week will file a notice of intent to sue the EPA for missing the clean-p deadline, which, she said "has been pushed aside for too long."

Nearly three-quarters of states failed to meet an initial 2007 deadline to submit plans requiring decades-old facilities that contribute to haze at parks to update old equipment. So far, only 34 states have complied.

West Coast coal exports to China challenged on greenhouse gases

 
Plans to open the first major coal export facility on the West Coast are likely to be delayed until next year because of an appeal filed by a coalition of environmental groups, which say shipping coal to Asia throws a wrench in U.S. efforts to reduce international greenhouse gas emissions.

On Nov. 23, commissioners in Cowlitz County, Washington, approved the 5.7-million-ton-a-year shipping facility on the Columbia River. The appeal argues that efforts to shut down coal-fired power plants in the U.S. are fruitless if American coal, unburned here, goes to power plants in China.

"The Pacific Northwest has dedicated a tremendous amount of energy to trying to reduce our coal use, and now the state of Washington would be allowing a massive amount of coal to be exported from our shores, while at the same time shutting down coal plants here," said Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeepr, one of four organizations asking the state Shoreline Hearings Board to overturn the permit.

Coal originating from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana would travel to Washington via rail to a former aluminum plant site in Longview. From there, Millennium Bulk Logistics, a subsidiary of Ambre Energy, proposes to ship it to clients in Asia, chiefly China.

Though there have been small-scale shipments in the Western U.S., British Columbia has handled the bulk of the region's coal exports. The Longview facility is only the first of several proposed along the West Coast, as coal producers scramble to adjust to markets that are booming in Asia and dwindling in the U.S.

Joseph Cannon, Millennium's chief executive, said shipping Montana and Wyoming coal to China would  result in fewer harmful emissions -- including of mercury, some of whose presence in the Columbia River has been traced to Asian industry -- because the coal is cleaner.

"China is building coal-fired electric power plants like crazy," Cannon said. "They have a near-insatiable appetite for electricity over there. So they're going to burn coal. This coal is vastly cleaner than the coal that's being burned in China. Not just less mercury, but less sulphur and less nitrogen. That's not a greenhouse gas, of course, but this will make it better for the people of China."

Agencies submit new Columbia River salmon plan

The Obama administration has come back with its final program for restoring endangered salmon on the Columbia River -- a plan substantially like the last one.

The revised biological opinion submitted by four federal agencies to the federal court in Portland, Ore., has been updated to reflect new scientific studies and to incorporate a flexible "adaptive management" strategy that will allow swift implementation of stronger measures if needed.

Officials hope that will be sufficient to head off yet another rejection by the court. "While much attention has focused on the courtroom, the region should be proud of what the federal government, states, tribes and communities together have accomplished for fish," the agencies said in a statement releasing the opinion.

"Last year alone, 9,609 miles of wetland habitat were protected and 244 miles of streams were reopened to fish. We've made much progress, and completion of this legal process now prepares us to make much more."

Conservationists had hoped the plan would be much bolder, with less emphasis on hatchery fish and stronger attention to the possibility of breaching dams on the Snake River in eastern Washington that cut off salmon from miles of pristine potential habitat.

"This was the Obama team's chance to change directions and protect salmon in the Columbia-Snake River basin and follow the law," said Todd True of Earthjustice, who is lead attorney for a group of fishing and conservation groups who have challenged the restoration plan in court.

Pacific Northwest forests act as massive carbon banks

The thick, wet forests of the Pacific Northwest are the carbon storage powerhouses of the U.S. -- in fact, they store more than 1-1/2 times as much carbon as the entire amount of carbon dioxide burned in fossil fuels throughout the country each year, a new study shows.

Two analysts for the Wilderness Society looked at data compiled by the U.S. Forest Service and identified 10 national forests, from the Tongass in southeast Alaska to the Siskiyou in southern Oregon, that together store about 9.8 billion metric tons of carbon on a total of 19 million acres.

By absorbing carbon dioxide, forests accumulate and store carbon in trees, roots and soil -- a valuable depository for greenhouse gases that, if released into the atmosphere, might contribute to climate change.

"To get a better idea of how much carbon this really is, we could compare it to the CO2 equivalent contained in the fossil fuels burned n the U.S. each year, about 5.8 billion metric tons," said Ann Ingerson, an economist for the Wilderness Society who co-authored the analysis with Mike Anderson, a senior resource analyst at the organization.