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Vantage to Pomona Heights Chapter 3 230 kV Transmission Line Project FEIS Affected Environment PAGE 3-277 of all greenhouse gases are to increase over the next century, but the extent and rate of change is difficult to predict, especially on a global scale. The IPCC completed a comprehensive report assessing the current state of knowledge on climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation (IPCC 2007). According to this report, global climate change may ultimately contribute to a rise in sea level, destruction of estuaries and coastal wetlands, and changes in regional temperature and rainfall patterns with major implications to agriculture and coastal communities. The IPPC has suggested that the average global surface temperature could rise 1.0 to 4.5˚F in the next 50 years, with significant regional variation. The National Academy of Sciences (2006) indicated that there are uncertainties regarding how climate change may affect different regions. Computer models indicate that such increases in temperature will not be equally distributed globally, but are likely to accentuate at higher latitudes, such as in the Arctic, where the temperature increase may be more than double the global average. Also, warming during the winter months is expected to be greater than during the summer and increases in daily minimum temperatures are more likely than increases in daily maximum temperatures. Vulnerabilities to climate change depend considerably on specific geographic and social contexts. Several activities occur within the Project area that may generate emissions of climate changing pollutants. For example, agriculture, fires, JBLM YTC training activities, City of Yakima, and recreation using combustion engines can potentially generate CO2 and MH4. Other activities may help sequester carbon, such as managing vegetation to favor perennial grasses and increase vegetative cover, which may help build organic carbon in soils and function as “carbon sinks.” It is difficult to discern whether global climate change is already affecting resources, let alone the area of the proposed Project. In most cases there is more information about potential or projected effects of global climate change on resources. It is important to note that projected changes are likely to occur over several decades to a century. Therefore, many of the projected changes associated with climate change may not be measurably discernible within the reasonably foreseeable future. However, an estimate of greenhouse gas emissions, a discussion of practicable mitigation to reduce the emissions, and a climate impact assessment are provided in Chapter 4-13 of this FEIS. The CAA is a federal law that establishes regulations to control emissions from large generation sources such as power plants. The USEPA has issued the Final Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Rule that requires reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from large sources. Under the rule, suppliers of fossil fuels, manufacturers of vehicles and engines, and facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more per year of greenhouse gases are required to submit annual reports to the USEPA (USEPA 2010b). Executive Orders 13423 (72 Federal Register [FR] 3919) and 13514 (74 FR 52117) require federal agencies to measure manage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by agency defined target amounts and dates. In the state of Washington, Executive Orders 07-02 and 09-05 direct state agencies to work with western states and Canadian provinces to develop a regional emissions reduction program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 level by 2020 (WDOE 2010).