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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: EPA Chief Scott Pruitt finally losing support among Republicans amid another new scandal; Antarctica’s ice melting three times faster than predicted; DNC bans corporate fossil fuel donations; High-tide flooding has doubled over the last 30 years; PLUS: Electric cars have become so cheap to drive, even the Trump Administration can’t ignore them… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
6/14/2018
‘Green News Report’ – June 14, 2018 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – June 14, 2018 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Trump’s environmental rollbacks put thousands of lives at risk; New records show Puerto Rico’s death toll from Hurricane Maria much higher than official government figure; All 5 FERC federal energy regulators don’t believe there’s a national security emergency on coal; Judge shows skepticism to New York climate change lawsuit; NV Energy 2.3-cent solar contract could set new price record; U.S. shale firms miss out on $70 oil after hedging at $55; Volkswagen to pay Vermont $6.5 million in emissions lawsuit… PLUS: Trump wants to bail out coal and nuclear power. Here’s Why That Will Be Hard… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- EPA Chief Scott Pruitt finally losing support among Republicans amid another new scandal:
- EPA chief Scott Pruitt tapped aide, donors to help wife land job at conservative group (Washington Post):
[P]ublic watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in an interview that Pruitt’s having a full-time EPA employee “become the headhunter for his spouse” was “highly inappropriate” since the outcome of the search “would affect his financial interests.”
- Pruitt’s conservative support cracks (Politico):
Scott Pruitt drew fire Wednesday from conservative pundit Laura Ingraham, who urged President Donald Trump to dump the scandal-scarred EPA administrator — the latest sign that his support among Republicans is crumbling. Ingraham, the popular radio and Fox News host, is the highest-profile conservative so far to call for Trump to fire Pruitt, who is widely disliked inside the White House after a string of ethical and spending controversies.
- More and more Republicans are turning on scandal-plagued Scott Pruitt (Vox):
Sen. James Inhofe, a close ally of the EPA administrator, is the latest to grow weary of Pruitt’s escalating ethics problems…Iowa Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst have turned against Pruitt for his stance on biofuels regulations.
- AUDIO: Energy Podium with Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) (S&P Global Platts):
Pruitt is “about as swampy as you get here in Washington.”
- Conservative group launches ad calling on Trump to fire Pruitt (The Hill)
- VIDEO: “You’re Fired” TV ad (American Future Fund)
- Why Trump would really, really rather not fire Scott Pruitt (Vox):
His subservience to Trump appears to be one reason why he has dodged the ax. “People are not people to [Trump], they are instruments of his ego,” Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter on Trump’s book The Art of the Deal, told the New York Times. “And when they serve his ego, they survive, and when they don’t, they pass into the night.”
- Kansas Corn Farmers Tell Pruitt They Are ‘Mad As Hell’ (Ag Daily)
- DNC bans corporate fossil fuel contributions:
- DNC Quietly Adopts Ban On Fossil Fuel Company Donations (Huffington Post):
The DNC confirmed the vote but declined to comment on the record…Oil and gas companies spent a record $7.6 million on Democratic races in 2016. But that figure pales in comparison to the $53.7 million in direct donations to Republicans, who received 88 percent of the industry’s contributions during that election cycle. Republicans have taken in 89 percent of the industry’s donations so far in 2018.
- DNC votes unanimously to no longer accept money from fossil fuel companies (Think Progress):
It remains to be seen how much this will impact party fundraising…According to HuffPost, the DNC will also consider banning contributions of over $200 from donors employed by the fossil fuel industry. That vote will take place in August during a board meeting in Chicago.
- Antarctica’s ice melting three times faster than predicted:
- Mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2017 (Nature)
- Antarctic ice loss has tripled in a decade. If that continues, we are in serious trouble. (Washington Post):
The melt rate has tripled in the past decade, the study concluded. If the acceleration continues, some of scientists’ worst fears about rising oceans could be realized, leaving low-lying cities and communities with less time to prepare than they had hoped.
- Ramp-Up in Antarctic Ice Loss Speeds Sea Level Rise (NASA)
- After Decades of Losing Ice, Antarctica Is Now Hemorrhaging It (The Atlantic):
But the good news ended there. “This should get people’s attention, especially here in North America,” he said. “This little hook where the ice is going into the ocean, it’s at the worst possible place in terms of its impacts on North America.”
- How Scientists Tracked Antarctica’s Stunning Ice Loss (Wired)
- NOAA: U.S. high-tide flooding has doubled in 30 years:
- Coastal communities saw record number of high tide flooding days last year (NOAA)
- U.S. Coastal Flooding Breaks Records as Sea Level Rises, NOAA Report Shows (Inside Climate News):
Tidal flooding is worsening in most places, and it’s currently most frequent in the Northeast, primarily because of the storms that regularly lash the coast each winter. But it’s getting worse fastest in the Southeast. The coast in that region is flat, so rising seas are exposing a relatively large area to new flooding.
- VIDEO: U.S. High-Tide Flooding Has Doubled in 30 Years, NOAA Report Says (Weather Channel):
Along the Southeast’s Atlantic coast, the rate at which these sunny-day floods have increased is even more blistering. NOAA’s report found high-tide flooding in this part of the U.S. has increased 150 percent since 2000 alone.
- Report: Boston Saw Record High-Tide Flooding Last Year (WBUR Boston)
- Climate gentrification: Rising sea levels affecting home values in FL:
- Climate gentrification: from theory to empiricism in Miami-Dade County, Florida (Environmental Research Letters)
- As sea levels rise, Florida homes at higher elevations are getting more expensive (Orlando Weekly)
- Risk of sea level rise hurting South Florida home values, new research shows (Miami Herald):
Creeping flood waters driven by sea rise have yet to reach the doors of most homes in Miami-Dade, but research shows the looming threat from climate change is already affecting their value. And not in a good way.
- Latest Climate Threat for Coastal Cities: More Rich People (Bloomberg):
Building codes, insurance premiums push middle class inland.
- EVs are so cheap to drive, even Trump Admin can’t ignore them:
- Washington State Has the Greatest Fuel Cost Savings for an Electric Vehicle Versus a Gasoline Vehicle (U.S. Dept. of Energy)
- It’s so cheap to drive electric even Trump’s administration can’t ignore it (Climate Progress):
The DOE says “The average fuel cost savings for all states was 60%.” But, in reality, the savings are going to be much, much larger — probably 80 percent or more. That’s because the actual price most electric vehicle (EV) owners will be paying for electricity to charge their vehicles will be much lower than the DOE assumed. Here’s how…
- Why electric cars will soon be superior to gasoline cars in every respect (Climate Progress):
The race to build a solar road that wirelessly charges electric cars.
‘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’s Environmental Rollbacks Put Thousands of Lives at Risk, Harvard Analysis Finds (Inside Climate News)
- 10 poor towns in Puerto Rico had more deaths after Hurricane Maria than in 2015 and ’16 (NBC)
- All 5 federal energy regulators don’t believe there’s a national security emergency on coal (Climate Progress)
- Judge shows skepticism to New York climate change lawsuit (AP)
- U.S. Groups Sue Trump Administration Over Water Protections (Reuters)
- U.S. Judge Orders EPA To Limit Pollution Into New York, Connecticut (AP)
- Firm slams ‘offensive’ DOJ claims in Clean Water Act suits (E&E News)
- NV Energy 2.3-cent solar contract could set new price record (Utility Dive)
- Detroit: Consumers Energy to end use of coal by 2040 (Detroit News)
- U.S. shale firms miss out on $70 oil after hedging at $55 (Reuters)
- Volkswagen to pay Vermont $6.5 million in emissions lawsuit (AP)
- Trump Wants to Bail Out Coal and Nuclear Power. Here’s Why That Will Be Hard. (NY Times)
- Despite Public Health Risks, EPA to Roll Back Regs to Stop Methane Leaks (Texas Observer)
- Oil Industry Copes With Climate Impacts As Permafrost Thaws (NPR)
- Hurricane Season 2018: Experts Warn of Super Storms, Call For New Category 6 (Inside Climate News)
- Former employee alleges discrimination, ‘White Only’ clubhouse at solar energy company (Climate Progress)
- Sexual harassment at universities must stop, report says (NBC)
- How More Carbon Dioxide Can Make Food Less Nutritious (NY Times)
- The world’s bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
- AUDIO: An Inconvenient ‘BradCast’ with Al Gore (The BRAD BLOG):
Guest Host Angie Coiro’s exclusive interview with the former Vice President on elections, pollution, persuasion, activism, and hope…
- The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate – so every reduction in emissions helps.
- The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak – sooner than you think.
- A beginner’s guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it’s possible for the whole world to run on renewables – we merely lack the “political will.” So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.
- 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
The humble education of the Bible thumpers of Oil-Qaeda (Humble Oil-Qaeda – 2).