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Budget

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a mapping tool that organizes Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) prepared by federal agencies, as well as EPA’s comments concerning the EIS’s. The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies proposing projects or making decisions on major federal actions to develop an EIS. Within the database, one can search by year, by state, or by EIS’s with open comment records since 2004. EPA comment letters issued within the last 60 days are also available on the map.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) recently released a report outlining the President’s proposed federal investments in research and development for fiscal year (FY) 2014. Under the President’s FY 2014 request, $142.773 billion is allotted for federal research and development, a $1.861 billion (1.3%) increase from the FY 2012 actual spending levels.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a five year plan that details their objectives for research and development. The plan’s main objectives focus on climate, weather, oceans, and coasts. NOAA plans to improve climate adaptation and mitigation by developing higher resolution models, improving communication and application of climate information tools and services, testing and strengthening climate vulnerability tests and increasing public awareness and understanding of climate change.

At the request of the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Research Council (NRC) produced a report synthesizing the most advanced models for assessing land change. The report focuses on how each model can best be used to help agriculture, regional planning, and disaster relief.

The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society released a report entitled Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective. The report was compiled by more than 70 scientists on 18 research teams from around the world, and examined the causes of 12 extreme weather events that occurred on five continents and in the Arctic in 2012.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted to uphold California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and ruled against a lower court ruling that the LCFS violates the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. The LCFS requires the oil industry to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels by at least 10% by 2020. Using a life cycle analysis, the LCFS caps the average carbon intensity of transportation fuels in California’s market.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is seeking information on system concepts and innovative approaches for its Sustainable Land Imaging Architecture study which is examining how best to extend the Landsat data record. The Landsat program is the longest running continuous space-based record of earth observations, which is jointly managed by NASA and USGS. On September 18, NASA and the U.S.

A study published in Nature Climate Change provides a map of areas most vulnerable to climate change. Authors say they hope to give governments and environmental groups a roadmap to help them identify the places where they should invest in protecting and restoring threatened ecosystems. The paper indicates the areas most impacted by climate change include southern Asia, western and central Europe, eastern South America, and southern Australia.

National flood insurance rates are set to rise at the end of the month. Beginning October 1, 2013, owners of repetitively flooded homes and the most subsidized policyholders of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will begin paying 25 percent more each year for flood insurance until their rates accurately reflect the level of risk associated with their properties.  The increases are targeted at 1.1 million policyholders that own homes along hazardous shorelines that are worth less than the claims paid out by the federal government.