By Dana Drugmand As fires rage through southern California, the costs of extreme weather events linked to climate change are forecast to keep climbing – adding fuel to growing efforts by some US states to make the oil and gas industry liable for helping foot the bill despite looming legal challenges. Vermont fired the first shot against the industry last year when it enacted a novel “climate superfund” law aimed at recovering state costs associated with greenhouse gas emissions that drive harmful climate change. New York passed similar legislation last month. Similar legislation has been introduced in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and California, as well as at the federal level. While the federal bill is not expected to make headway in a Republican-controlled Congress, climate activists are pushing Democrat-led states to embrace the legislation as a way to show climate leadership amidst a second Trump administration that has promised to promote the interests of the oil and gas industry and roll back environmental regulations. Supporters of the legislative moves held a Jan 7 press conference highlighting the actions. Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, told reporters at that press conference that she is “extremely optimistic” that California will enact its version of the climate superfund policy this year. Experts have said the devastating wildfires raging through the Los Angeles area and surrounding communities in early January are directly tied to climate change as prolonged drought and higher temperatures have left vegetation highly flammable. The costs of the disaster have been estimated at more than $20 billion.
As fires rage through southern California, the costs of extreme weather events linked to climate change are forecast to keep climbing – adding fuel to growing efforts by some US states to make the oil and gas industry liable for helping foot the bill despite looming legal challenges.
Putting out every little forest fire in an eco system where natural fires were commonplace is the cause of these humongous fires we can’t put out.
Climate change isn’t the main culprit here.
“[…] attempting to suppress all wildfires necessarily means that fires will burn with more severe and less diverse ecological impacts, with burned area increasing at faster rates than expected from fuel accumulation or climate change. Over a human lifespan, the modeled impacts of the suppression bias exceed those from fuel accumulation or climate change alone, suggesting that suppression may exert a significant and underappreciated influence on patterns of fire globally”
We figured this out from the Yellowstone National Park fires of '88.
I was in forestry class a couple of years later and the professor lectured on it. He had been there, seen the dead wood stacked 10’-15’ high. Can you fucking imagine?!
We spent decades and decades putting out every little fire and went surprised Pikachu when 800,000 acres exploded in a firestorm of biblical proportion. Have we learned nothing in 40-years?!
Given the Santa Anna winds funneling fire down the LA valleys and Hurricane Helene funneling the rain down the mountains to flood North Carolina, I’ll stand pat, just a bit upland in Florida.
Putting out every little forest fire in an eco system where natural fires were commonplace is the cause of these humongous fires we can’t put out.
Climate change isn’t the main culprit here.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-46702-0
We figured this out from the Yellowstone National Park fires of '88.
I was in forestry class a couple of years later and the professor lectured on it. He had been there, seen the dead wood stacked 10’-15’ high. Can you fucking imagine?!
We spent decades and decades putting out every little fire and went surprised Pikachu when 800,000 acres exploded in a firestorm of biblical proportion. Have we learned nothing in 40-years?!
Given the Santa Anna winds funneling fire down the LA valleys and Hurricane Helene funneling the rain down the mountains to flood North Carolina, I’ll stand pat, just a bit upland in Florida.