IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Landmark clean energy legislation finally drops in the U.S. Senate; EPA plows forward anyway; Scientists revise their predictions --- again ... PLUS: Mutiny at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Big Utilities Pull Back on Coal Plant Plans; EPA to review ALL pending Mountaintop Removal Permits, while Big Coal fumes; Yikes: New California rules allow timber firms to sell carbon credits while continuing logging practices; Australian town become first in the world to ban plastic bottles ... PLUS: Green Building takes off: Engineering giants follow the money to green power ....

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

• The "Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act" Moves to the Senate:
  • Boxer, Kerry Launch Campaign to Pass Senate Cap-And-Trade Bill (Greenwire)
  • More on the Kerry-Boxer Climate Bill (Mother Jones)
  • OP-ED: The Senate Climate Bill: Sens. Boxer and Kerry introduce legislation with a key component missing (Washington Post)
  • Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy (Truthout)
  • So How Does The Senate Climate Bill Stack Up To The House Version? (The New Republic)
  • GOP Pokes at Climate Bill Divisions (Roll Call)
  • Senator Ben Nelson 'Cannot Support' Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs Act (Hill Heat)
  • Bipartisan Unhappiness with Boxer-Kerry Cap-and-Blanks Bill (Shop Floor)
  • OPINION: Pigou, Glenn Beck, and the false case against cap-and-trade (Paul Krugman, NY Times)
  • Keeping ‘Climate’ Out of a Climate Bill’s Title (Dot Earth)
  • After deadly flooding, Philippines urges rich nations to act on climate change (AFP)
  • Senate climate bill drops "cap and trade" term (AP)
  • WATCH IT: Senator Boxer Press Conference: The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act
  • TRANSCRIPT: Senator Boxer Statement: The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act:
    
    This bill addresses major challenges of our generation: protecting our children and the earth from dangerous pollution; putting America back in control of our energy future; creating the policies that will lead to millions of new jobs; and through our example, inspiring similar actions around the world to avoid an unstable and dangerous future.
  • Here’s the quick summary (pdf), a section-by-section breakdown (pdf), and the whole beast (pdf).
• EPA to Regulate Emissions:
• E.P.A. Moves to Curtail Greenhouse Gas Emissions (NY Times)
• What today’s EPA announcement did (and did not) say (Grist)
• At Governator’s climate party, EPA chief aims to calm small business worries (Grist)
• Feinstein endorses EPA decision: “Hopefully, this will encourage the Senate to pass a comprehensive climate change bill quickly. If it does not, the Obama Administration should be commended for having the courage to protect our environment and our Earth.” (Climate Progress)
• READ IT: New EPA Rule Will Require Use of Best Technologies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases from Large Facilities (Marietta Register)
• Breaking: New EPA Rule Will Require Use of Best Technologies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases from Large Facilities (Climate Progress):
  
  The two biggest myths about the EPA’s efforts to regulate CO2 are, from the right, that EPA will be regulating everybody, including small businesses and farmers, and, from the left, that the EPA’s endangerment finding can somehow stop dangerous warming if the climate bill dies. What they will mostly be doing is new sources, although if Congress fails to act on CO2 regulations, they will no doubt pursue stricter regulations than they otherwise would.
• Six Foot Sea Level Rise May Be "Inevitable":
• Experts: Two meter sea level rise unstoppable (Reuters):
  Stefan Rahmstorf, a scientist at Germany's Potsdam Institute and a widely recognized sea level expert [said]: "There is no way I can see to stop this rise, even if we have gone to zero emissions."
• 6-foot Sea-level Rise Called Inevitable (Live Science)
• STUDY: 'Runaway’ melt on Antarctica, Greenland: Experts find more ‘pervasive, enduring’ thinning than previously realized
• Climate Change Faster Than Expected, UN Says (IPS News)
• Mutiny at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over climate change:
• Business Backlash Against Climate Change Deniers (Progress Repot)
• Oh, Really?... U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: ‘We’ve Never Questioned The Science Behind Global Warming’ (Wonk Room)
• Around The Nation, Chambers of Commerce Promote Climate Denial (Wonk Room)
• Exelon quits Chamber over climate change (CNBC)
• Nike Resigns from Chamber Board (Natural Resources Defense Council)
• PG&E quitting U.S. Chamber over climate change views (Reuters)
• PNM to drop out of Chamber of Commerce over climate concerns (New Mexico Independent)
• PG&E, Duke Energy Walkouts Show U.S. Split on Climate (Blommberg)
• Corporations call off the old green battle, but Chamber of Commerce soldiers on (Grist)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report...

• Big Utilities Pull Back on Coal Plant Plans (NY Times)
• EPA: All 79 mining permits need more review (West Virginia Gazette)
• EPA holds up coal-mining permits as firms fume (Reuters)
• New California rules allow timber firms to sell carbon credits: Environmental groups criticize the Schwarzenegger-backed changes, which allow the companies to benefit from the fight against global warming while continuing to clear-cut forests (LA Times)
• The Australian town that kicked the bottle: Drinking fountains replace shop-bought mineral water in environmental initiative (Independent UK)
• Green Building Takes Off: Engineering giants follow the money to green power (Reuters)

                 

Article Categories: Green News