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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Rising tide of opposition against Trump's latest executive order; Trump's climate denial puts China first in the global clean energy race; Texas judge kicks ExxonMobil case back to New York; PLUS: Mobilizing the Power of the People with the upcoming March for Science and the March for Climate... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): "Trump Is a Chinese Agent"; Trump’s Interior Secretary says ‘clean energy’ is a hoax; Unbalanced Climate-Change Hearing Proves Pointless; Lamar Smith, unbound, lays out political strategy at climate doubters’ conference; While Ohio Coal Employment Falls, Solar Jobs Double In Cleveland Area; Trump’s Executive Order is Out of Step With Americans; Energy Department Climate Office Bans Use Of Phrase ‘Climate Change’; Westinghouse Files for Bankruptcy, in Blow to Nuclear Power... PLUS: If you liked buying your oil from Saudi Arabia, you’ll love buying your electric cars, solar panels, efficiency software and batteries from China.... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

• Exxon delivered a setback in court - back in the New York groove:
• Texas judge kicks Exxon climate lawsuit to New York court (Reuters):
  
  A federal judge in Texas on Wednesday kicked an Exxon Mobil Corp lawsuit seeking to thwart two states from pursuing a fraud case over climate change to a Manhattan court, saying his court wasn't the best place to resolve the dispute.
• Exxon Dealt a Blow as Texas Judge Sends Climate Suit to N.Y. (Bloomberg):
  
  Exxon Mobil Corp.’s attempt to derail a multistate fraud probe into whether the company fully disclosed to investors the financial risks of climate change was dealt a major blow after a Texas judge moved the case from its home turf to a federal court in Manhattan.
• Trump's Executive Order on climate attacks 23 climate policies:
• Presidential Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth (White House):
  
  The heads of agencies shall review all existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions (collectively, agency actions) that potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources, with particular attention to oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy resources.
• Trump’s big new executive order to tear up Obama’s climate policies, explained (Vox)
• Justice Dept. Moves Swiftly to Back Trump Climate Order (Climate Central):
  
  The federal government is moving swiftly to implement President Trump’s executive order on climate change, taking steps that include lifting a moratorium on new coal mines and asking courts to suspend long-running legal disputes over power plant climate rules.
• Trump Just Released His Plan to Gut Obama's Climate Policies. It's Worse Than You Thought. (Mother Jones):
  
  The wide-ranging order, which will be accompanied by other environmental directives, targets Obama-era policies across the government, including in the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Interior, and the Department of Defense. It directs the EPA to revisit the Clean Power Plan, which limits carbon pollution from power plants and was considered the center-piece of former President Barack Obama's climate policy. Additionally, Trump is asking the Justice Department to stop defending the plan in court.
• VIDEO: Four-and-a-half false statements EPA head Scott Pruitt made in just one interview (Climate Progress)
• Rising tide of opposition against Trump's Executive Order on climate:
• VIDEO: Sen. Markey: Trump's EPA executive order a 'declaration of war' (MSNBC)
• Green Groups Vow War Over Trump’s Climate Rollback (The Hill):
  
  Environmentalists and their allies are pledging to go to war against President Trump’s efforts to roll back his predecessor’s climate change agenda.
• Long Legal Battles Ahead Over Trump’s Climate Order (Climate Central):
  
  Environmental groups and progressive states are vowing to battle President Trump in court over his push to repeal federal climate protections, and experts are warning that the battles ahead will be slow and protracted...“If the Trump Administration decides to dismantle these carbon pollution standards and then either chooses not to limit carbon pollution from power plants, or chooses to do it in a way that is ineffective and weak, then, yes, you can expect to see challenges,” Joanne Spalding, an attorney with the nonprofit Sierra Club, said.
• Exxon Mobil urges Donald Trump to keep US signed up to Paris Agreement on climate change (Independent UK):
  
  The company once run by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the Paris Agreement is 'an effective framework for addressing the risks of climate change'
• Zinke lifts moratorium, environmental groups sue (Greenwire)
• A.G. Schneiderman Leads Coalition Of States And Localities In Opposing Pres. Trump’s Efforts To Dismantle The Clean Power Plan (NY State Office of the Attorney General)
• Top US coal boss Robert Murray: Trump 'can't bring mining jobs back' (Guardian UK)
• Trump's actions will harm US economy today and for generations to come:
• Trump’s climate rollback could cost taxpayers billions (Climate Progress):
  
  Climate change will harm more than just the environment — it will be an economic disaster. The consequences of climate change — more intense precipitation events, longer and more destructive wildfire seasons, increased risk of drought or flooding, sea level rise — will harm plants and wildlife, but they will also damage crops, reduce availability of natural resources, and destroy infrastructure. Economic studies that seek to quantify the cost of climate change have found figures ranging from $180 billion for just the United States to $400 trillion globally by the end of the century.
• China poised to take lead in clean energy race:
• China poised to take lead on climate after Trump's move to undo policies (NY Times):
  
  “China wants to take over the role of the U.S. as a climate leader, and they’ve baked it into their five-year plans,” she added, referring to the economic development blueprints drawn up by the Chinese government.
• Trump's order signals end of US dominance in climate change battle (Guardian UK):
  
  Trump’s climate blitzkrieg is unlikely to herald the end of civilization, but it risks US geopolitical dominance and could help ‘make China great again’
• Trump’s Rollback Paves the Way for a New Climate Leader (MIT Technology Review):
  
  The world’s next global leader on climate is probably not the country you’d expect.
• China, EU Reaffirm Climate Action After Trump Retreats (Climate Central)
• China Is on an Epic Solar Power Binge - because its massive solar panel manufacturing sector needs new markets for its products (MIT Technology Review)
• Get yer boots on: March for Science and March for Climate in April:
• March for Science, Earth Day April 22, 2017 (March For Science):
  
  March for Science is an effort comprised of more than 400 independent, nonpartisan coordinators. Recent rhetoric has inspired us to march on Washington D.C. and in Satellite Marches across the country and world.
• People's Climate March, April 29, 2017 (Climate March)
• Climate Activists Pledge Huge Response to Trump’s Executive Order (Common Dreams)
• Why We Need A March For Science: A Q&A with March for Science co-chair Valorie Aquino (MTV)
• Stanford microbiologist creates ‘resistor’ hats for the March for Science (Stanford Univ. News)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists' Daily Headlines page

• Trump Is a Chinese Agent (Tom Friedman, NYT):
  
  [C]lean power, clean water, clean air, clean transportation and energy-efficient buildings will have to be the next great global industry, whether or not there is climate change. The demand will be huge. So what is China doing? Its new five-year plan is a rush to electric cars, batteries, nuclear, wind, solar and energy efficiency — and a cap-and-trade system for carbon. Trump’s plan? More coal and oil. Hello? How can America be great if we don’t dominate the next great global industry — clean power?
• Trump’s Interior Secretary says ‘clean energy’ is a hoax (Climate Progress):
  
  Zinke was eager to defend the administration’s approach to fossil fuels on Fox News Radio.
• Unbalanced Climate-Change Hearing Proves Pointless (Washington Post):
  
  The House Science Committee convened a hearing on climate-change science Wednesday morning and it went just as I expected. We learned little, and political theater upstaged almost all productive discussion of science.
• While Ohio Coal Employment Falls, Solar Jobs Double In Cleveland Area (Midwest Energy News):
  
  Solar industry jobs doubled in the Cleveland, Ohio area last year, driving about half of the state’s total job growth in the sector, according to new data released today by The Solar Foundation.
• Lamar Smith, unbound, lays out political strategy at climate doubters’ conference (Science Magazine):
  
  Smith also signaled that he plans to turn up the volume on his criticism of federally funded research that doesn’t fit his definition of “sound science.” In particular, he expressed support for writing legislation that would punish scientific journals that publish research that doesn’t fit standards of peer review crafted by Smith and the committee (although he didn’t say how that would be accomplished).
• Fear of solar geoengineering is healthy – but don't distort our research (David W Keith and Gernot Wagner, Guardian UK):
  
  Models suggest solar geoengineering could reduce climate change and our independently assessed studies are vital to understanding its full potential
• Trump’s Executive Order is Out of Step With Americans (Climate Central):
  
  Surveys by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication show that 75 percent of Americans favor regulating carbon pollution. By trying to repeal the Clean Power Plan, Trump would be killing a regulation that does exactly that. “The public does not support what the President is doing today,” Ed Maibach, the head of the George Mason Center for Climate Change Communication, said.
• Energy Department Climate Office Bans Use Of Phrase ‘Climate Change’ (Politico):
  
  A supervisor at the Energy Department's international climate office told staff this week not to use the phrases 'climate change,' 'emissions reduction' or 'Paris Agreement' in written memos, briefings or other written communication, sources have told POLITICO.
• These scientists want to create ‘red teams’ to challenge climate research. Congress is listening (Washington Post):
  
  “The notion that we would need to create an entirely different new approach, in particular for the specific question around global warming is unfounded and ridiculous and simply intended to promote the notion of a lack of consensus about the core findings, which in fact is a false notion.”
• I am an Arctic researcher. Donald Trump is deleting my citations (Guardian UK):
  
  These politically motivated data deletions come at a time when the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average.
• Desert water agencies will appeal to Supreme Court in tribes landmark groundwater case (Desert Sun):
  
  [Tribe has] argued the water districts have significantly degraded the quality of the groundwater by allowing Colorado River water, which has higher levels of dissolved salts and minerals, to seep down to the aquifer. He has suggested the agencies should instead treat the imported water before allowing it to flow into the underground drinking water supply.
• Westinghouse Files for Bankruptcy, in Blow to Nuclear Power (NY Times):
  
  Westinghouse Electric Company, which helped drive the development of nuclear energy and the electric grid itself, filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, casting a shadow over the global nuclear industry.
• Climate Deniers Are Winning-and Getting Greedy (The New Republic):
  
  With Trump in the White House, an anti-environmental conference in D.C. should have been a celebration. Instead, there was fear and loathing.
• VIDEO: Shell's 1991 warning: climate changing 'at faster rate than at any time since end of ice age' (Guardian UK):
  
  The company's farsighted 1991 film, titled Climate of Concern, set out with crystal clarity how the world was warming and that serious consequences could well result.
• Massive Permafrost Thaw Seen in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release (Inside Climate News):
  
  Study shows 52,000 square miles in rapid decline, with sediment and carbon threatening the surrounding environment and potentially accelerating global warming.
• No country on Earth is taking the 2 degree climate target seriously (Vox):
  
  If we mean what we say, no more new fossil fuels, anywhere.

FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page

• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).

                 

Article Categories: New York, United Nations, Environment, Dept. of Justice, Barack Obama, Democrats, Republicans, Green News, EPA, Donald Trump, Natural gas, Coal, Oil, Wind energy, Solar energy, Climate change, Extreme weather, Ed Markey, China, Paris Agreement, Dept. of Interior, Eric Schneiderman