This  beautiful video about oceans and the threat to them is from NRDC Flix.  “This groundbreaking NRDC documentary explores the startling phenomenon of ocean acidification, which may soon challenge marine life on a scale not seen for tens of millions of years.”

The oceans regulate climate and provide most of the oxygen for us to survive, but humans are destroying it with our CO2 emissions.  This week, an EPA spokeswoman said the agency “is interested in learning more about how to protect our ocean and coastal waters from acidification.”   That’s good, because the  EPA just settled a lawsuit that should lead to greenhouse gas emission reductions using the Clean Water Act.  An  article quoted below from Climatewire describes the lawsuit and the outcome.   In another updated story later, Climatewire** reported some updates to the story:

U.S. Clean Water Act settlement opening new path to GHG curbs

“U.S. EPA settled a lawsuit yesterday by agreeing to use the Clean Water Act to address ocean acidification, a move that some see as opening a side door to federal curbs on greenhouse gases that scientists link to problems in the marine environment. The settlement with the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity directly addresses EPA’s failure to require Washington state to list its marine waters as impaired by rising acidity.

I don’t believe that the Obama EPA fought the Center’s lawsuit very hard, because this outcome is probably what they wanted to do anyway.  In any case, this settlement gives the EPA another legal backing for regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

Unfortunately, some politicians in Washington have an anti-environmental agenda.  We can only hope that all the members of Congress and the governors who seem to not value the environment (and apparently also hate our ability to survive on this planet) will be unsuccessful in their recent attempts to stop the EPA from regulating greehouse gases and protecting clean air and water.  Republican politicians are scrambling to beat each other in denouncing the EPA’s attempts to protect us from pollution and global warming.   In addition, Governors of several U.S. states also recently wrote a letter requesting that Congress to stop the EPA from regulating harmful pollution.  From the WSJ:

“The governors, led by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, made their request in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and their Republican counterparts. The letter was also signed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who has been cited as a possible contender in the 2012 presidential election.”

This request is a shameful act by people who don’t even seem to care if humanity survives climate change.  Politicians should be looking for as many ways to keep humanity from harm from global warming as they can, but instead, certain politicians are doing the opposite. In the case of MN governor Tim Pawlenty, this damaging and shameful request to stop the EPA is being done for purely political reasons, as he is attempting, badly, to garner national attention [...]