OldWeather.org

OldWeather.org is a website that harnesses the power of "citizen science" to help digitize old nautical log entries.

Help scientists recover worldwide weather observations made by Royal Navy ships around the time of World War I. These transcriptions will contribute to climate model projections and improve a database of weather extremes. Historians will use your work to track past ship movements and the stories of the people on board.

http://www.oldweather.org/

Read more!

CBO Cost Estimate for H.R. 5509

The Congressional Budget Office has released its Cost Estimate for H.R.5509, the Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization and Improvement Act which was reported favorably with amendments on July 28 by the House Agriculture Committee.

H.R. 5509 would reauthorize and amend the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s)Chesapeake Bay program. This legislation would authorize appropriations for EPA over the 2011-2015 period to provide grants to state agencies or municipalities to construct wastewater and stormwater treatment projects. In addition, it would establish the Independent Evaluation and Technical Advisory Committee to review and report on restoration activities in the Chesapeake Bay. H.R. 5509 also would establish the Chesapeake Bay Nutrient and Sediment Trading Commission to oversee and administer a trading program for certain point and nonpoint sources of nutrients and sediment in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Finally, enacting this legislation would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a pilot program for creating environmental service markets (that is, markets for carbon storage, flood control, and other projects that do not typically compensate farmers and landowners). Assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates that implementing this legislation would cost $2.4 billion over the 2011-2015 period.

Read the CBO Cost Estimate here. [PDF]
Read more!