ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Con incendios en Nuevo México, Arizona y Colorado, las brigadas trabajan salvando personas, casas, árboles y, en una área, una especie de pez en peligro de extinción. Al menos un grupo ambientalista piensa que el problema inmediato está vinculado a problemas menos evidentes: la contaminación por carbón y el calentamiento global.
Los incendios brotan por todo Nuevo México con una frecuencia que viene de una mezcla de rayos, días secos, vientos calientes y el daño del escarabajo de corteza. La semana pasada, los apagafuegos tuvieron que atender un incendio cerca de la Villa de Manzano y otro en el Bosque, en Albuquerque, además de fuegos en Little Bear y Whitewater Baldy. David Ellenberger, de la National Wilderness Federation (Federación Nacional de la Vida Silvestre), dice que nueve estados de la región Suroeste están combatiendo incendios grandes. Le parece que es un signo de los tiempos que vienen.
“Los reportes de los científicos del clima parecen coincidir en que el futuro del Intermountain Oeste y las Rocosas será más caliente y seco, y más parecido que distinto al de 2012. Y la gente ya comienza a atar cabos entre los patrones de clima extremo que hemos visto aquí, y el cambio climático.”
Al preguntarle si lo que debe hacerse es comprar más aviones tanque, como se propone en la iniciativa auspiciada por el Senador Ron Wyden (D-OR), apoyada por Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) y enviada la semana pasada al Presidente, Ellenberger dijo que la respuesta es atender los síntomas. Sin cambiar las causas ocultas de lo que llama “clima que se calienta”, las temporadas intensas y largas de incendios serán cosa común.
Otra causa de los incendios de Nuevo México y el Suroeste son los escarabajos de corteza. El escarabajo Piñón es del tamaño de un grano de arroz. Si bien es parte del ecosistema de los árboles de piñón y enebro, las plagas de escarabajos convierten a los árboles en combustible para la lumbre. Ellenberger dice que el ciclo de vida de esos insectos se aceleró en los años recientes.
“Su crecimiento y ciclos reproductivos se han acelerado por el calentamiento global. Están teniendo dos ciclos reproductivos en la misma estación, cuando antes tenían sólo uno. Debido a las temperaturas del invierno, más tibias de lo que habíamos visto, los escarabajos de corteza tampoco están muriendo en invierno.”
Ellenberger dice que limitar los gases de invernadero que atrapan el calor en la atmósfera es una de las soluciones a esta situación.
“Creo que lo que más reditúa es perseguir a los mayores emisores de dióxido de carbono, que son las plantas de energía. Las plantas que queman carbón todavía son el 40 por ciento de nuestra manera de producir energía en este país.”
Ellenberger considera que la Environmental Protection Agency (Agencia de Protección Ambiental) regula la contaminación de carbono como una manera de responder a las causas raíz del cambio climático, y en consecuencia resolver las largas temporadas de calor y de incendios en las Rocosas y la Intermountain del Oeste.
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A new report found four dams in the Columbia River Basin are big emitters of methane.
Research from the organization Tell The Dam Truth showed the four lower Snake River dams in eastern Washington emit the equivalent of 1.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.
Robin Everett, deputy western region field director for the Sierra Club, said it undercuts some of the claims the dams are helping provide the region with clean energy.
"It's really clear from this report that we have to take this a lot more seriously that there are some real impacts as far as emissions go from these dams," Everett asserted.
The reports showed the dams produce the equivalent emissions of burning 2 billion pounds of coal annually. Defenders of the dams counted they are important for barging and irrigation for the area's agricultural lands.
But Everett pointed out the dams have another effect on the region: they block the dwindling population of salmon and steelhead from traveling upstream on the Snake River. She noted it not only hurts fish populations but the tribes relying on them.
"We have an obligation for them to be able to fish and if there are no fish to fish, we have broken the treaties," Everett contended
Chinook salmon are also an important source of food for orca on the West Coast. Everett added protecting salmon is important for tribes and the region as a whole.
"Our moral obligation to the salmon and the orca that depend on them are met as well," Everett concluded.
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A proposed pumped-storage hydroelectric facility for Cuffs Run near the Susquehanna River in York County has been challenged by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
The foundation filed a motion to intervene in the proceedings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is considering granting a preliminary permit to build a 1.8-mile-long dam for the project.
Harry Campbell, science policy and advocacy director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said they are working to stop the project in order to protect the unique Cuffs Run area and its ecological benefits for future generations.
"If approved, this project would destroy it about 580 acres of prime farmland, fields and forests, some of which have not been disturbed in about 100 years," Campbell pointed out. "Those farms, fields and forests exist harmoniously with and in support of a plethora of plant and animal life."
The foundation is circulating an online petition and encouraged Pennsylvanians to provide comments before Sunday.
The stream is home to naturally reproducing brook trout. Advocates worry the $2.5 billion project would also be harmful to the Susquehanna River. Campbell noted about 40 families would be displaced.
"For those who call Cuffs Run home, it's more than just a place to live. It's their heritage and they want it to be part of their legacy," Campbell asserted. "This project just simply is the wrong idea in the wrong place. In order to honor that heritage and that legacy, we need to preserve this area."
Campbell emphasized the Cuffs Run project is about 993 acres of land draining into a 2.5-mile unnamed tributary. He added in terms of stream habitat, the rocks, pebbles and woody material have been identified as among the best in the region for supporting critters living in the water.
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Tennesseans want more say in how the Tennessee Valley Authority plans for their future electricity needs and a bill now in Congress could give the public more influence.
The "TVA Increase Rate of Participation Act," would require a more open decision-making process for the utility.
Brianna Knisley, director of public power campaigns for Appalachian Voices, said the TVA is currently developing its new Integrated Resource Plan to meet future energy demands. The bill would require more public participation in the plan's proceedings.
"Right now the stakeholders who get to provide input early on in the IRP process are all hand-selected by TVA," Knisley pointed out. "You can't choose to be in that IRP working group. And those are the only folks who get substantial input in the architecture of the IRP, as it's being designed."
The utility serves more than 10 million people across six states. The TVA said it is reviewing the legislation. A draft of the plan will be published at a later date. The TVA said it already has a "robust stakeholder engagement plan."
After the plan is released, Knisley noted public input happens during what's known as the scoping phase of the National Environmental Policy Act. Open houses are set up, where the TVA answers questions from the public. Knisley encouraged Tennesseans to raise any of their concerns during the public and virtual hearings.
"I think additional public input into our region's long-term energy plan is only going to strengthen outcomes," Knisley contended. "And make that long-term energy plan better meet the needs of the Tennessee Valley, as a whole."
She added it is important for Tennesseans to work with Congress on the best way to improve public input in the TVA decision-making process.
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