[MCN] Nature: US National Climate Assessment: "the first big test in the climate arena"

[Lance Olsen]

Excerpt: 

"It wouldn’t be the first time that a Republican president had sought to stymie the United States’ national climate-assessment process. The administration of George W. Bush came under fire for ignoring the first National Climate Assessment, which was released by then-President Bill Clinton in 2000. After the Bush administration subsequently missed the legal deadline in 2004 to complete a second assessment, environmentalists sued the government in federal court to compel the report’s release — and won.

"The message of the latest science report — that human-caused global warming poses urgent problems for the United States — isn’t likely to sit well with the White House. The Trump administration has sought to repeal environmental regulations and cut climate research <http://www.nature.com/news/trump-budget-would-slash-science-programmes-across-government-1.22036>. Energy secretary Rick Perry has joined Pruitt in questioning climate science <http://www.nature.com/news/trump-s-pick-for-energy-secretary-once-sought-to-eliminate-doe-1.21160>. And Pruitt’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, once worked for Senator James Inhofe (Republican, Oklahoma), a prominent climate sceptic. 

“'This is going to be the first big test in the climate arena,' says Tammy Dickinson, who led the energy and environment division at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) under president Barack Obama. One major issue, she adds, is that Trump has yet to fill many positions at the OSTP <https://www.nature.com/news/white-house-s-dwindling-science-office-leaves-major-research-programmes-in-limbo-1.22285> — which has coordinated work on the last three government climate assessments — or high-level science posts at federal agencies that work on climate change."

https://www.nature.com/news/fears-rise-for-us-climate-report-as-trump-officials-take-reins-1.22391 <https://www.nature.com/news/fears-rise-for-us-climate-report-as-trump-officials-take-reins-1.22391>

============================================
“By the end of the 21st century, forest ecosystems in the United States 
will differ from those of today as a result of changing climate.”

Effects of climatic variability and change on forest ecosystems: 
a comprehensive science synthesis for the U.S. General Technical 
Report PNW-GTR-870. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 
Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 265 p. 
Vose, James M.; Peterson, David L.; Patel-Weynand, Toral. 2012. 

http://treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/42610

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