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Western Resource Advocates Issues Statement On Climate Change Report

  Western Resource Advocates issued the following statement in regards to the release of the Third National Climate Assessment, which describes impacts of climate change to specific sectors across the nation, as well as broad regional impacts. It provides a roadmap for the type of preparation that is likely to be needed to address climate change impacts, and underscores the urgency to mitigate our carbon emissions.

“Our world is already being significantly and rapidly altered by climate change including heat waves, drought and more frequent wildfires,” said Gary Graham, Lands Program Director at Western Resource Advocates. “This assessment should help decision makers curb carbon pollution while attempting to prepare the nation’s critical ecosystems and infrastructure, like our electricity grid, for climate change driven impacts during the next several decades.” 

Along with the report released today, the White House is emphasizing the actions the administration is taking to curb these impacts. Most importantly, in June the Environmental Protection Agency will release draft standards for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing power plants, which account for 33% of our nation’s GHG emissions.

“EPA’s forthcoming standards are perhaps the best chance we have at curbing our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, and avoiding the worst of the impacts described in the National Climate Assessment. That, in turn, protects our region’s land and water resources, which westerners have said – rather resoundingly – they cherish,” said Stacy Tellinghuisen, Senior Energy/Water Policy Analyst at Western Resource Advocates.
 

The full Assessment is available here: http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report