Laserfiche WebLink
CONSERVATION GROUPS’ COMMENTS <br />UNCOMPAHGRE FIELD OFFICE RMP AND DEIS <br />7 <br />• Surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century under all assessed <br />emission scenarios. It is very likely that heat waves will occur more often and last <br />longer, and that extreme precipitation events will become more intense and <br />frequent in many regions. The ocean will continue to warm and acidify, and <br />global mean sea level to rise. <br /> <br />Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and <br />sulfur hexafluoride are recognized as the key greenhouse gases contributing to climate change. In <br />2009, the EPA found that these “six greenhouse gases taken in combination endanger both the <br />public health and the public welfare of current and future generations.”15 The D.C. Circuit has <br />upheld this decision as supported by the vast body of scientific evidence on the subject. See <br />Coal. for Responsible Regulation, Inc. v. EPA., 684 F.3d 102, 120-22 (D.C. Cir. 2012). <br /> <br />According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”), “[t]he <br />combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for August 2016 was the <br />highest for August in the 137-year period of record, marking the 16th consecutive month of <br />record warmth for the globe.” 16 The global climate crisis is happening and it may well be <br />accelerating quickly. <br /> The graphs show globally averaged historic and monthly mean carbon dioxide. <br /> <br />The IPCC in 2013 affirmed: “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since <br />the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The <br />atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has <br />risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased” causing “widespread impacts <br />on human and natural systems.”17 This is consistent with the findings of the United States’ 2014 <br /> <br />15 Environmental Protection Agency, Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for <br />Greenhouse Gases Under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act 74 Fed. Reg. 66,496 (Dec. 15, <br />2009). 16 NOAA, Global Analysis – August 2016, available at: <br />https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201608. 17 IPCC AR5 Synthesis Report at 2 (attached as Exhibit 5).