The EPA recently released a Tabletop Exercise Tool (TTX Tool) that is designed to introduce users to the potential impacts of climate change on the water sector and prepare them for emergency response.  Five climate change-related scenarios provide an opportunity for utilities to consider and implement long-term planning measures in order to mitigate the potential impacts of climate change.  Copies of the TTX Tool can be obtained by emailing ttxtool@epa.gov with a mailing address and number of requested copies.

On September 23, 2010, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the locations selected for the Department of the Interior’s Southeast and Northwest regional Climate Science Centers (CSC) and the finalization of a cooperative agreement for the Alaska Climate Science Center, which opened on Sept. 1 in Anchorage.

North Carolina State University will host the Department of the Interior’s Southeast Climate Science Center. A consortium of three universities--Oregon State University, University of Washington and the University of Idaho--will lead the Northwest Climate Science Center. Including the first CSC, the Alaska CSC hosted by the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, a total of three of the eight planned regional Climate Science Centers have been announced.  These regional Climate Science Centers and their partnership networks will function to provide the science needed to understand which regional resources are most vulnerable to climate change, and they will work closely with the resource managers that have to work on planning for climate change. For more details, see the DOI press release at http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Interior-Announces-Climate-Science-Centers-for-Southeast-and-Northwest-Regions.cfm.

EPA has released for independent external peer review and public comment a draft report entitled, A Method to Assess Climate-Relevant Decisions: Application in the Chesapeake Bay.  This draft report presents a method to inventory and analyze environmental management decisions and their sensitivity to climatic change for the purpose of subsequent prioritization.  The peer review and public comments will be accepted until November 1, 2010 and will be used to revise the draft report.  A final report will be posted online.  This draft report is available at:  http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/ recordisplay.cfm?deid=227483.

On 10 September 2010, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced 15 awardees who will take the lead in planning collaborations across the United States as part of the Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) program. This program will connect climate scientists, experts in theories on how people learn science, and formal and informal education experts, with the goal of increasing public understanding of global climate change and preparing the next generation of scientists and educators. Each partnership will work to identify and disseminate scientifically accurate educational resources, with the end goal being that the materials developed through this program will be available to help both classroom teachers and informal educators address students' questions about climate change from a solid scientific basis.  For more information, please see the NSF press release at http://nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=117685&org=NSF&from=news.