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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: A NEW gusher in the Gulf!; Dam bursts in Iowa, floods hit Chicago, heat wave in Kansas --- other than that, everything's fine!; BP's CEO gets his life back ... PLUS: Climate legislation in the Senate is dead --- really, really dead this time, says Harry Reid ... 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): As energy use goes, so goes the economy; On-again, off-again federal support for renewables cripples emerging industries in the U.S.; EPA Slams State Department on Proposed Oil Pipeline; Deep Underground, Miles of Hidden Wildfires Rage ...PLUS: 1/3 of U.S. to Face Water Shortages Due to Climate Change (with maps!) ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: China, drowning in oil --- literally; Bobby's berms a bust?; Gulf waters now safe for fishing?!? (except when it's exploding) ... PLUS: Waytago, oil companies! (Did we just say that?!) ... 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): Kansas heat wave kills 2000 cattle; Hundreds of dead penguins wash up on Brazilian coast; Does Egypt own the Nile? water battle brewing; Poo Power: generating electricity from sewage?; 3 of every 4 oil and gas lobbyists worked for federal government; Bee massacre at SF farm; Cool roofs save money, energy, and directly reduce warming; Judge halts oil development on Alaska's Chukchi Sea ...PLUS: Busted: Five air-conditioning myths ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Confirmed yet again: 2010 hottest year on record so far; Fossil fuel death toll still rising ... PLUS: The three-month mark of the BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf, and all the oily mess that goes with it ... 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): CA's pioneering e-waste program a model gone wrong; 'Climategate' debate a polite, well-mannered affair; Geoengineering can't please everyone!; CBO: Corn based ethanol a waste of taxpayer money; What cap? Dems' climate word war; If Cap-And-Trade dies, is an energy bill still worthwhile?; Senators press for taxpayer loans to rare earth metals projects; Environmental groups on the rise in China ... PLUS: Scientists baffled by unusual upper atmosphere shrinkage ...

It's been explained to me that one of the reasons we have such a difficult time selling ads on this blog --- or receiving donations (Serious hint there, people! Please? Thanks!) --- is that I'm reliably unreliable when it comes to supporting any particular political party.

This, of course, makes me toxic to most of the partisans out there, in what has become an insanely partisan world. (It also makes it very difficult to pay the rent, so see shameless plea above.)

In any case, I'm now I'm more toxic than ever, as the following short animated video proves!

The video below has just been released by the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition, and I was honored to give voice to all of the different male cartoon characters you'll see. Yes, they're all actually me! Toxic, but hopefully amusing. Just like this blog. Enjoy and spread the word!...

For more info on all of these lovable toxins, click here...

(And I was serious about the terrible lack of donations. Could really use the support! And you know I hates askin'! If you can help, I promise much more relentless toxicity from this blog in the foreseeable future!)

TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport
VIA SMART PHONE: Stitcher Radio!

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: 2010 shaping up as hottest year on record; BP Oil Disaster stop-and-go; MI from 'Rust Belt' to 'Green Belt'; New revelations in WV coal mine disaster; PLUS: It's ALIVE! (For now.) Climate and Clean Energy Legislation is back in the U.S. Senate! ... 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): Big Giveaways To Big Oil; Hacking the Electric Grid?; Wild Tiger Population Dropped by 96.8% in 20 Years; Will Anything Curb China's Appetite for Rare Wildlife?; Puget Sound Chemistry Transformed by Climate Change and Runoff; Spain overtakes US with world's biggest solar power station; Silly Putty Ingredient Found in Chicken McNuggets; Long Island town threatens to sue Fannie & Freddie over clean-energy program; Paleoclimatologist studies sea levels in a desert ...PLUS: Climate scientists: “The urgent need to act cannot be overstated.”...

Guest blogged by Ernest A. Canning

As noted in today's Green News Report, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has ordered a new moratorium on exploratory deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere off the continental shelf of the U.S.. The new suspension may make prior court battles over the previous moratorium moot, even as questions linger concerning apparent conflicts-of-interest by the judge who originally heard the case.

Stating that he was basing his decision on "an extensive record of existing and new information indicating that allowing new deepwater drilling to commence would pose a threat of serious, irreparable, or immediate harm or damage to the marine, coastal, and human environment," Salazar sent a memo yesterday to Michael R. Bromwich, the Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM), directing him to issue new suspensions of deepwater drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The new suspensions, presuming they withstand another inevitable court challenge from the oil industry, will run through November 30 and apply to both the Pacific and Gulf Coast regions.

In revealing the new suspensions, Salazar announced...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Has BP finally put a lid on it?; Drilling moratorium Round Two; Haiti's forgotten disaster, six months later ... PLUS: Climate scientists exonerated again, AGAIN (again) ... 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): Zombie lies concocted by climate deniers likely to stick around despite corrections; Reports from four fronts in the War on Warming; Did BP play a role in terrorist's release, to get drilling rights in Libya?; Death toll rises after levees fail in China; PA quarantines cattle contaminated with fracking fluid; Obama admin announces Alaska drilling lease sale; EPA uses industry studies to test safety of weedkiller ...PLUS: Doomsday: Could BP Spill Kill All Life on Earth?...

Guest blogged by Ernest A. Canning

A three judge panel of the heavily-Republican 5th Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans rejected the Department of Interior's request for an emergency stay of Judge Martin Feldman's June 22, 2010 preliminary injunction [PDF], which prevents enforcement of the Department of Interior's six month moratorium on exploratory drilling on only 33 "of the approximately 3,600 structures in the Gulf dedicated to offshore oil exploration and production."

The panel's two Reagan appointees, Judge Jerry E. Smith, joined by Judge W.Eugene Davis, ruled that the government had failed to demonstrate that it would be irreparably harmed if a decision on whether to vacate Judge Feldman's injunction was deferred until after the appeal was heard sometime around the end of August or early September. Judge James L. Dennis, a Clinton appointee, dissented, noting that he did not believe Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar had abused his discretion in ordering a moratorium, which, per the government's motion is limited to those drilling operations that apply "the same technologies employed by Transocean's Deepwater Horizon...only to waters over 500 feet deep..." Since, under the Administrative Procedures Act, a court cannot overturn an agency decision absent an abuse of discretion, Judge Dennis appears to have concluded that Judge Feldman erred in issuing the preliminary injunction.

Judge Dennis did have a question, however, about the six month length of the moratorium.

While yesterday's ruling does not mean that the panel will ultimately rule against the moratorium, the Justice Department and the attorneys representing a number of environmental organizations in the appeal face a daunting climb given Judge Smith's expression of the usual appellate court deference to the findings of the district court judge --- a climb up an oil slicked slope given the ties between the oil industry and the judges who will decide the moratorium's fate...

TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport
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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Record summer heat around the world (where are the climate change deniers?); Is air conditioning making America fat(ter)?... PLUS: BP says relief wells will be ready, just in time for their quarterly earnings report ... 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): Nevada Test Site to house solar projects; Don't expect global warming skeptics to give up on Climategate; PA finds spike in environmental violations from natural gas fracking: PA cattle quarantined from gas fracking contamination; UT kids contaminated with arsenic from pet chickens’ feed; Oil industry ramps up opposition to repealing tax breaks; Critics call Valdez cleanup a warning for Gulf workers ...PLUS: A Beach Walk With the Ghosts of Exxon Valdez ...

[Now UPDATED with audio archives below.]

It's hump day for my latest week-long sting filling in as Guest Host on the nationally syndicated Mike Malloy Show. We'll be BradCasting LIVE all this week from L.A.'s KTLK am1150 9pm-Midnight ET (6p-9p PT). Please join us by tuning in, chatting in, Tweeting in and calling in!

The LIVE chat room will again be up and rolling here at The BRAD BLOG during the show, so come on by for that as ya listen! (The Chat Room will open at the bottom of this item a few minutes before airtime, see down below, just above "Comments" section.)

So far scheduled for tonight's show...

• DEAN LOGAN, Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk on his office's report on the six different failures I encountered while trying and failing (again) to vote last June on the county's ES&S e-voting machines, and on his plans for the future to replace the disastrous systems in the country's largest voting jurisdiction.
• DAVID ROBERTS, Grist.org's climate and energy reporter on the status of federal clean energy legislation, the BP disaster and what cap and trade actually means.
• PLUS: Whatever else you and I feel like talking about, including your calls at 877-520-1150, tweets to @TheBradBlog and whatever else comes up along the way...

The Mike Malloy Show is nationally syndicated on air affiliates around the country and also on Sirius Ch. 146 & XM Ch. 167. You may also listen online to the free LIVE audio stream at affiliate GREEN 960 in San Francisco or via MikeMalloy.com.

Click here to jump into our LIVE Chat Room during the show. Or just see below!...

POST-SHOW UPDATE: A thinking man (and woman)'s show tonight. I think. Lots to bite off and chew into. Enjoy the audio archives below, and the chat archives below them...

Guest blogged by Ernest A. Canning

[Ed Note: Ernie Canning appeared as my guest on last night's Mike Malloy Show to discuss Feldman's conflicts-of-interest and the government's appeal described below. The audio archive of that interview can be heard here. - BF]

In a powerful and carefully-crafted 5th Circuit Court of Appeal motion [PDF] filed in Hornbeck Offshore Services vs. Salazar --- a motion which did not touch upon the question of whether U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman's substantial investments in the oil industry mandated a recusal --- the government argued that, in enjoining the Department of Interior's six month suspension of offshore drilling on just 33 "of the approximately 3,600 structures in the Gulf dedicated to offshore oil exploration and production," following the BP/Transocean Deepwater Horizon disaster, Judge Feldman abused his discretion by substituting his own personal judgment over matters that, by statute and federal regulations, are the province of federal officials.

The Department of Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement ("BOEMRE") have the legally mandated duty and authority to regulate such matters, the government is arguing.

"While Plaintiffs’ concerns appear limited to the next financial quarter," the motion explains, "[the Department of] Interior must ensure not only that OCS [Outer Continental Shelf] drilling operations are safe and secure but also that the Nation’s fisheries, coastal ecosystems, and other public lands continue to provide jobs, recreation opportunities, habitat for wildlife, healthy ecosystems, and economic resources for all of the public."

The appellate motion by federal officials calling for a stay of Judge Feldman's recent preliminary injunction on the exploratory drilling moratorium will be argued before a three-judge panel on Thursday...

[Now UPDATED with audio archives below!]

We're back again tonight filling in as Guest Host on the nationally syndicated Mike Malloy Show. We'll be BradCasting LIVE all this week from L.A.'s KTLK am1150 9pm-Midnight ET (6p-9p PT). Please join us by tuning in, chatting in, Tweeting in and calling in!

The LIVE chat room will be up and rolling again here at The BRAD BLOG during the show, so come on by for that as ya listen! (The Chat Room will open at the bottom of this item a few minutes before airtime, see down below, just above "Comments" section.)

So far scheduled for tonight's show...

• JUDGE VIC RAWL, Four-term South Carolina state legislator and circuit court judge, and recent Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate nomination until the state's 100% unverifiable ES&S e-voting system declared unknown, jobless candidate Alvin Greene the "winner" of the questionable election on June 8th. We'll discuss that, his extraordinary protest hearing before the state Democratic Party, and where he'll go from here after finding what he calls "systemic software problems" and a "lack of election integrity" in South Carolina.
• ERNEST CANNING, member of the California state bar since 1977, political scientist and, most importantly, a guest contributor to BradBlog.com, on the case for impeachment against deep water drilling moratorium Judge Martin Feldman.
• PLUS: Other stuff on my mind and yours via calls at 877-520-1150, tweets to @TheBradBlog, a likely visit from the lovely DESI DOYEN of the Green News Report and whatever else comes up between here and there...

The Mike Malloy Show is nationally syndicated on air affiliates around the country and also on Sirius Ch. 146 & XM Ch. 167. You may also listen online to the free LIVE audio stream at affiliate GREEN 960 in San Francisco or via MikeMalloy.com.

Click here to jump into our LIVE Chat Room during the show. Or just see below!...

POST-SHOW UPDATE: A damned fine show, if I do say so myself. But you'll let me know if I'm wrong. All of it recorded and posted for posterity in audio archives (and even chat archives) below...

Tom Ricks, author of the best-sellers Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2003 to 2005 and The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008, on the June 27, 2010 Meet the Press after arguing to Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) that leaving Afghanistan now would lead to an "endless war" ("I think if you want an endless war, Congresswoman, leave Afghanistan right now, and you'll find us having to go after al-Qaeda again and again there for decades."):

Um, yeah. Bingo. (On the "alternative fuels" part, not the 'can't leave now' part.)

TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport
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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: A solar boost from Obama; Tarballs in Texas; And a blimp to the rescue... PLUS: Record heat hits Northeast and climate scientists exonerated --- AGAIN --- but climate change deniers still report it this way [cue: crickets] ... 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): How does sewage treatment actually work?; Political protests over fuel costs idle much of India; Scrubbing CO2 from atmosphere would be a long-term commitment; China sentences Tibetan environmentalist to five years in prison; China fears consumer impact of growing middle-class on global warming; Judges nuke Obama's plan to dump Yucca Mtn. dump; Detergent industry does the "impossible" --- adopts voluntary ban on phosphates ...PLUS: Retrofitting suburbia: The task at hand? ...