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This weekly newsletter, focused on environmental issues, highlights relevant analysis done by the John Locke Foundation and other think tanks, as well as items in the news. [Note: This version fixes a broken link and corrects the name of the journal.]

1. New study: icecaps melting at half the rate previously thought

A new study from the science journal Nature Geoscience concludes that icecaps in Greenland and the West Antarctic are melting at half the rate previously predicted. The research was performed by a U.S./Dutch team from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Delft University of Technology, and the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research. According to this release from Delft:

It now turns out that [previous estimates] were not properly corrected for glacial isostatic adjustment, the phenomenon that the Earth’s crust rebounds as a result of the melting of the massive ice caps from the last major Ice Age around 20,000 years ago … the sea floor under Greenland is falling more rapidly than was first thought. One of the researchers, Dr Bert Vermeersen of TU Delft, explains: ‘The corrections for deformations of the Earth’s crust have a considerable effect on the amount of ice that is estimated to be melting each year. We have concluded that the Greenland and West Antarctica ice caps are melting at approximately half the speed originally predicted.’

Links to recent JLF reports on global warming:
https://www.johnlocke.org/agenda2010/climatechange.html
https://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/policy%20reports/147
https://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/spotlights/195
https://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/policy%20reports/86

2. Harry Reid acknowledged CO2 reduction bill dead for this year

It looks like a comprehensive legislation to limit carbon dioxide emissions is dead not only for this year but maybe forever. According to The Hill, Sen. Harry Reid is now saying that next year Congress should approach the issue in a piecemeal manner rather than comprehensively, which has been the approach with cap and trade legislation. It should be noted that legislation to reduce CO2 emissions is often referred to as "climate legislation," but that is a misnomer since there is no legislation that has been or is being proposed that would have any perceptible impact on global temperature any time during the next century.

3. Ozone Report

For the week of September 5 to September 11, the NC DAQ reports no high ozone readings registered on North Carolina monitors. From April 1 through September 11, a total of 24 weeks, North Carolina has had 100 high ozone readings (.076 ppm or above over an 8 hour period). These readings were scattered around the state over 33 out of 39 different monitors and over 22 different days. Most of the high ozone days to date have occurred in the Charlotte area and in the Triad. [Note: When an ozone alert is made through the media, it is only a prediction. Very often an ozone alert is issued but a high ozone day does not materialize. That is why we are reporting here that during certain weeks there were no actual high ozone days even though ozone alerts may have been issued and reported in the media.]

Links to recent JLF reports on ozone:
https://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/spotlights/234
https://www.johnlocke.org/research/show/spotlights/229