Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide | NOAA Climate.gov

September 15, 2018 by Oldunionist

In fact, the last time the atmospheric CO2 amounts were this high was more than 3 million years ago, when temperature was 2°–3°C (3.6°–5.4°F) higher than during the pre-industrial era, and sea level was 15–25 meters (50–80 feet) higher than today.

Carbon dioxide concentrations are rising mostly because of the fossil fuels that people are burning for energy. Fossil fuels like coal and oil contain carbon that plants pulled out of the atmosphere through photosynthesis over the span of many millions of years; we are returning that carbon to the atmosphere in just a few hundred years.

via Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide | NOAA Climate.gov

Building a Stream Protection

February 17, 2017 by Oldunionist

Sourced from:OFFICE of SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION and ENFORCEMENT U.S. Department of the Interior

“The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) has finalized the Stream Protection Rule to improve the balance between environmental protection and providing for the Nation’s need for coal as a source of energy. The final rule better protects streams, fish, wildlife, and related environmental values from the adverse impacts of surface coal mining operations and provides mine operators with a regulatory framework to avoid water pollution and the long-term costs associated with water treatment.”

Sourced from the White House:

What President Trump Signed

“LETTING COAL COUNTRY WORK AGAIN: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed legislation (House Joint Resolution 38) to stop the costly “Stream Protection Rule” from further harming coal workers and the communities that depend on them.”