On Earth Day, Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., signed three climate change executive orders. The first adopts the state goals for emission reductions recommended last year by the blue-ribbon Climate Action Panel convened by RMCO. That executive order:  

• Sets statewide targets of a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and 80% by 2050, both compared to 2005 levels.
• Directs the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to within 24 months propose regulations “to achieve the maximum feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas reductions from passenger vehicles.” (Under federal law, the only such emission standards that Colorado could adopt are those set by California. Our Climate Action Panel recommended that Colorado do so.)
• Directs CDPHE to draft within 24 months regulations to mandate reporting of greenhouse gases from major sources.
• Directs CDPHE and the Governors Energy Office to evaluate alternatives for addressing greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.

The other two executive orders establish a Climate Advisory Panel (without naming members) and an agricultural sequestration offset program. For media coverage, see Ritter enacts measures to tally greenhouse gases, Denver Post, April 23, 2008. 

Green strategies for DNC unveiled, Rocky Mountain News, April 22, 2008. Planners for this August’s Democratic National Convention in Denver are intent on minimizing its carbon footprint. Comments RMCO President Stephen Saunders, "Groups that are highly visible can play a huge role in raising awareness."

In March, RMCO and the Natural Resources Defense Council released a report, researched and written by RMCO staff, on the evidence that the West’s climate is already changing. Hotter and Drier: The West’s Changed Climate includes a new analysis showing that the 11 western states have warmed 70 percent more than the global average, with the greatest warming concentrated in the Colorado River basin, where it affects the interior West’s most important water source.

With additional information drawn from 50 scientific studies and 125 other scientific and governmental sources, the report documents that the West’s climate has changed more than any other region in the United States outside of Alaska, with effects that include more heat waves, smaller snowpacks and earlier snowmelt, increased wildfires, unprecedented infestations of tree-killing bark beetles, loss of wildlife populations, loss of fishing and hunting opportunities, and hardship for farmers and ranchers.

The report received widespread news coverage, including “Warming felt more in western U.S.,” in the Los Angeles Times; “Temperature rising out West,” in the Salt Lake City Tribune, “Arizona temperatures rising more than average,” Arizona Republic; “American West heating nearly twice as fast as rest of world, new analysis shows,”  Science Daily; and “Warming affects trees, streams in West,” by the Associated Press. It was also also cited in As fight for water heats up, prized fish suffer, an April 1, 2008 New York Times article describing competition for water intensifying as the climate gets warmer and drier. Additionally, the report was covered by CBS News, the Today Show, United Press International, Reuters, the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and other news outlets in (at least) Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon,  Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

This is RMCO’s third major report in 2-1/2 years, following Less Snow, Less Water: Climate Disruption in the West and Losing Ground: Western National Parks Endangered by Climate Disruption.

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