GOP challenges Obama over flood risks from climate change

[Vic Tree]

Source: McClatchy

WASHINGTON — Underscoring the political challenges President Barack Obama faces as he presses ahead to combat climate change, eight Republican senators are contesting the legality of his Jan. 30 directive toughening floodplain standards for new federal projects.

In a letter to Obama last week that was coordinated by Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, the newly empowered chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the senators expressed concern about “the vast implications” that the standards would have for families and workers in coastal communities.

They demanded to know which governors, mayors and other stakeholders had provided input for the new policy, as required by legislation passed weeks ago that continued funding for the federal government.

Obama’s executive order specifies that the administration received input from “governors, mayors and other stakeholders.” Less clear is how many of them were Republicans.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/02/09/256050/gop-challenges-obama-over-flood.html

---

You know what's even LESS clear than that? The number of Floridian pols!

[Midnight Writer]

1. Wait until a Republican district is flooded

Then they will demand to know why the President didn't do more to protect them

[Vic Tree]

2. Yep

They'll be bleating like goats about Obama's "weakness" and "lack of leadership."

[DRoseDARs]

3. But that's just it: Most will be long-dead or otherwise out of office by then.

This isn't The Day After Tomorrow. Even fast, the process would take decades at the earliest to be impactful. Few remain in office that long.

[Vic Tree]

4. But, but, but...

...Republicans care so MUCH about kids and grandkids!

[DRoseDARs]

5. They certainly won't when they're all turned into Soylent Green to feed future generations. nt

[JDPriestly]

6. I don't know about the flooding.

I do know about the scientists' predictions.

And I also know that here in Southern California, this winter feels like the warmest ever.

It's very strange. This is totally anecdotal and not scientific. I am not claiming that it has been peer reviewed. But. . . . today I went through a big drawer of sweaters. It's full of very old sweaters, including some I knitted in the early 1980s. Wonderful, warm sweaters. I love them. They never grew too old for me to wear on cold nights. But this year, I have worn one of them only a couple of times. It just has not been cold enough to bother to put them on. A sweat shirt is almost too warm. We hardly had a winter in my view.

If others in Southern California disagree with me, I'd love to hear from them. But in my experience, this winter is proof of global warming.

My basil is still growing. Normally it gets too cold for basil by the end of November. I have tomatoes in my back yard. It's a bit early for tomatoes to grow outdoors. (They aren't ripening. There aren't enough sunlight hours for that.) Or at least in past years, it was too cold this time of year at night.

This year -- it is warmer than normal. And this is not the first year like this although I think this is the warmest.

I have Monarch butterflies (and lots of milkweed in pots) in my yard. That, too, may be due to a warm February.

[dhill926]

7. agreed....

this winter is substantially warmer than just last year. We live on the coast. No fog…and gonna be in the 80's the next couple days. More like August for chrissakes. Haven't lived here that long, so it may just be an anomaly. But it's noticeable…very noticeable.

[JDPriestly]

8. I live about five miles from downtown -- inner Los Angeles.

I notice the weather because I have a garden. It's quite amazing to watch it become warmer gradually year after year. But this year my plants are reacting in new ways. Basil should not be green at this time of year.