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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: 'GNR' SPECIAL COVERAGE - The comprehensive National Climate Assessment is out, with dire warnings on the impacts of climate change, but also hope that governments can act in time to reduce emissions... 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): America is officially the world's climate pariah. Syria joins Paris Climate Agreement; Here's how far the world is from meeting its climate goals; Puerto Rico needs as much as $21 billion in aid to rebuild; EPA science advisor defends comments that dirty air helps kids; Contractors billed $114 per nut for SC nuclear reactor; ND officials seek $1 billion water pipeline; Rich nations failing to reduce emissions, assist poor nations with climate change impacts; House Republicans wants to 'invalidate' endangered species act; Loss of federal protections will endanger coral reefs, fisheries; Earth's ozone hole smallest since 1988... PLUS: Texas toxicologist who rejects basic science named to EPA science advisory board.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Puerto Rico cancels controversial grid repair contract; Tesla restores power to PR children's hospital with solar and battery storage; Tropical Storm Philippe knocks out power in 7 Northeastern states; Global CO2 jumps to highest level in more than 3 million years; PLUS: Congressional Republicans may support resilient electric grids. Just don't mention climate change... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): EPA Pruitt to fill science panels with industry representatives; CO residents condemn regulators for allowing drilling near homes; NOAA about-face on red snapper revives overfishing threat; Same lake, but unequal water rates for minority communities; 'Emissions gap' alarmingly high, says UN; Loss of federal sanctuary protections endangers crucial reefs; Fish rebounding two years after CA dam removal; Trump to shrink 2 national monuments in UT; Native American professor resigns over censorship of DAPL seminars... PLUS: Trump's gang of climate change deniers has grown into an army in top government positions.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: New report finds pollution kills more people every year than war, disaster or hunger; US Senate to vote on disaster relief for hurricane victims; EPA censoring climate science and government scientists; PLUS: It's the hottest World Series in professional baseball history --- literally... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Puerto Rico considers privatization for island's generation; Whitefish: Small Montana firm lands Puerto Rico’s biggest contract to get the power back on; EPA to repeal emissions standards for large trucks; Video: War on the EPA; EPA shifts on toxic chemicals after installation of chemical industry executive; Ex-FERC commissioners slam DOE Perry's bid to subsidize coal; NH senators question EPA over findings on toxic NH landfill; Congress moves to gut Antiquities Act protecting America's treasures; Oil terminal backers pour money into Washington State race; What you should know about GOP move to drill in ANWR; Flying insects vanish from nature preserves... PLUS: As dams burst, Trump seeks to gut new, key safety rules... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: Donald Trump declares the U.S. government response to the devastating Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico couldn't have been better, and a bi-partisan effort in the U.S. Senate gains support, but struggles to overcome the President's sabotage of ObamaCare and schizophrenic response to the measure. [Audio link to show follows below.]

First, the President met with Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló at the White House on Thursday, and gave himself a "10 out of 10" rating for his federal government's response to the disaster and ongoing humanitarian crisis following Hurricanes Maria and Irma on the island of 3.5 U.S. citizens. During the sometimes uncomfortable 30-minute press avail, Trump sought approval for the response from an on-the-spot Rosselló.

The official death toll after Maria stands at 48, though independent analyses put the number of dead at more than 400. The power grid is still down across the vast majority of the island, and many are still struggling for fresh running water, though CNN offers some good news today regarding the many desperate citizens who had been drinking from wells at toxic Superfund sites.

Then, following Trump's announcement late last week that he was cutting off subsidy payments mandated by the Affordable Care Act (or 'ObamaCare') to help cover out-of-pocket health care expenses for low-income Americans, a bi-partisan agreement was struck in the U.S. Senate to pay those Cost-Sharing Reductions (CSR) subsidies. Trump originally lauded the deal announced between Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) on Tuesday. But he has since flip-flopped on support of the bill by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Health Committee in the 48 hours since. Trump's cut-off to those CSR payments has already resulted in health care premiums sky-rocketing around the country, including in states like Pennsylvania, where, its insurance commissioner announced Monday, rates are now set to soar some 30% for many in 2018.

We're joined by TPM's Congressional reporter ALICE OLLSTEIN from the Capitol today for the latest on what the Alexander-Murray measure, now co-sponsored by some 24 U.S. Senators from both parties, would actually do; how members are reacting to Trump's predictably unpredictable roller-coaster responses to it; how each party is attempting to sell the bill to its members; and whether GOP leadership will even allow the legislation to come to the floor for a vote, much less whether it can be passed by the Senate or the even more rabidly-opposed right-wing members of U.S. House.

Trump "has been all over the map on this," Ollstein explained, when I asked about the response on Capitol Hill to his ever-shifting statements. "Every time he opens his mouth, it's a new and confusing statement. No one has any idea, really, where he stands on this. So I think they're just trying to rally as many votes as they can, and worry about the President later."

"Keep in mind, this bill is coming kind of too late to make anything better for 2018," she says. "If they had gotten it done by mid-September, the insurers could have lowered their rates and prevented some of the big increases we're seeing. Now they blew past that deadline because they wanted to take one more whack at repeal, which failed. So now it's all about stabilizing the market, preventing additional chaos, and we won't really see the benefits of this until [the] end of 2018, beginning of 2019. That's right when the midterms are going to be. And so does the Republican leadership want their members to face re-election amid all of this healthcare chaos that they might get blamed for, as many polls indicate?"

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report on the newest GOP scheme to allow drilling in the pristine Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to export oil to China; updates on the deadly wildfires in CA and storm disasters in Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands; and some very good news indeed regarding electric vehicles...at least in Europe.

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Ophelia batters Ireland --- yes, Ireland; Firefighters gain ground against deadliest wildfire week in California history; Desperate Puerto Ricans obtaining water from toxic Superfund sites; PLUS: Search for missing worker suspended after oil rig explosion in Louisiana... 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's Love Affair with Coal: Why a president who struggles to stay on topic has a laser focus on one shrinking industry; EPA head seeks to avoid settlements with environmental groups; Why Puerto Rico's electric grid didn't stand a chance against Maria; Is Uber killing mass transit?; Trump taps climate skeptic for top White House environmental post; Plant more trees to combat climate change; Interior Dept. secretly working on 'land swap' for long-sought road through Alaskan wilderness; Europe's largest oil company buys Europe's largest electric vehicle charging network; Bananapocalypse: The race to save the world’s most popular fruit... PLUS: How deep ocean wind turbines could power the world.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Deadly, historic firestorms in California's Wine Country continue to rage out of control; Risk of water-borne diseases rise in battered Puerto Rico; PLUS: Trump's EPA greases the way for massive, controversial Pebble Mine in the world's most valuable salmon fishery... 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): The people of Puerto Rico have become political opponents for Trump; 10 Hurricanes in 10 Weeks: With Ophelia, a 124-year-old record is matched; Key changes needed to prevent fiery rail crashes; Most US oil executives see prices below $60 per barrel through 2018; EPA reveals sharply lower cost of climate change to justify repealing Clean Power Plan; Homebuyers not warned reservoirs would flood their homes; Trump nominates privatization advocate AccuWeather CEO to head NOAA; Texas EPA allows coal plants to pollute even more; Coal ash dam failures would impact hundreds, maps show... PLUS: Study shows North Atlantic wind farms could power the whole world.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Fast-moving, deadly wildfires explode across Northern California wine country; 2017 on pace to shatter U.S. billion-dollar weather disaster record; 2017 also breaks a record for Atlantic hurricanes --- and it ain't over yet; PLUS: Trump's EPA moves to repeal Obama's Clean Power Plan... 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): 52 environmental rules on the way out under Trump; Congress ponders future of federal flood insurance program; Are electric vehicles pushing demand over a cliff?; Complaints surge about dicamba pesticide drift killing oak trees; Farm profits at heart of debate over new fertilizer rules; Industry lawsuits try to paint activists as criminals; Transcanada scraps another pipeline; Jury convicts activist in DAPL protests; 19 species won't receive federal endangered species protections; Nestle pays just $200 a year to bottle water near Flint, MI... PLUS: U.S. greenhouse gas emissions fall, led by utility industry... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Calls grow to accelerate aid for humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria; Adding danger to desperation, major Puerto Rican dam now at risk of total failure; Good news and bad from toxic Superfund sites flooded by Hurricane Harvey in Texas; PLUS: Unusually warm ocean fueling record Atlantic storm season... 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): 2017 foreshadowing hurricanes to come; Textbook example of how climate misinformation spreads through right-wing media; Park Service: Obama water bottle ban had 'significant' benefits; Tioga oil pipeline spill cleanup still ongoing after 4 years; Houston approves buy-out of 200 flood-damaged homes; Duke Energy will post coal ash disaster maps after all; EPA sued to implement stormwater plan; Hundreds of industrial plants discharging pollutants into OH waterways; France reaffirms opposition to weedkiller glyphosate... PLUS: SC regulators investigating failed S.C. nuclear project for 'looking to cut corners'... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Recovery efforts continue after Irma grinds a trail of destruction across Florida and into Georgia; Adding pollution to misery, FL sewage systems overflow and EPA waives pollution rules; Hurricanes Irma and Harvey may open a rift in the Republican Party's denial of climate change; PLUS: Miss North Dakota slams Trump's withdrawal from Paris Climate Agreement, wins Miss America pageant... 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): Damage from Irma, Harvey add to growing costs of climate change; VW to build all models all-electric by 2030; Trump Admin halts pollution controls at FL power plants; Houston's floodwaters tainted with toxins; FL representative aims to let companies hide climate risk; State says new Enbridge pipeline not needed; EPA Toxics nominee helped Koch Brothers in Chicago pet-coke battle; Record wildfire season causing significant air pollution in Pacific Northwest; Senate panel votes to fund UN climate agency... PLUS: Electric cars are about to get their biggest boost ever.... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast --- 12 years to do the day since Hurricane Katrina made landfall --- the disaster from Hurricane Harvey continues in Houston. How bad will it get? And will officials finally take action to avoid more such catastrophes? [Audio link to show follows below.]

Catastrophic flooding from Harvey continues today, as an all-time continental U.S. record of nearly 52" of rainfall has been recorded, two of Houston's reservoirs have over-topped their dams, a levee has been breached South of Houston, thousands of rescues continue, tens of thousands are stranded in their homes and in shelters, and we are still days away from the water receding.

It's difficult to explain how much water has fallen. As noted on today's show, generally speaking, one inch of rain equals one foot of snow. So, if this were snow, it would be 50 feet deep in some places! Seth Borenstein at AP reports "By the time the rain stops, Harvey will have dumped about 1 million gallons of water for every man, woman and child in southeastern Texas." Already, as of Tuesday, he notes, "15 trillion gallons of rain have fallen on a large area, and an additional 5 trillion or 6 trillion gallons are forecast by the end of Wednesday...That’s enough water to fill all the NFL and Division 1 college football stadiums more than 100 times over."

DAVID ROBERTS, environment, energy and politics journalist from Vox.com, joins us to discuss the ongoing disaster --- the type of which he has been warning about for more than a decade --- and what we know and don't about the effect of climate change on this storm and its unprecedented rainfall. We discuss the failure of infrastructure officials, in Houston and elsewhere around the nation, to take appropriate measures to help mitigate, much less adapt to, a quickly changing climate that scientists have long warned will become more and more destructive thanks to the continuing man-made emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels.

"Take climate change completely out of the equation, you still have a Gulf Coast that's subject to these mega-storms every so often, and is planning terribly for them," he notes. "In your Floridas, your Miamis and Houstons, they're just building everywhere they can, and they are all --- institutionally, by habit and by law --- extremely biased in favor of developing, including in these vulnerable areas." Will the destruction of Harvey finally force officials to take appropriate action?

"These disasters seem like a time --- which are very rare in the U.S. these days --- when we set our petty squabbles aside and come together to help people," observes Roberts, before wondering: "What's going to happen when these kinds of crises are striking different regions of the country regularly? Or every year? Or multiple cities at once, as climate exacerbates all this and makes all these disasters worse? I wonder how our capacity for empathy is going to keep up."

We also discuss some new revelations regarding Exxon's decades long private knowledge and public denial of global warming, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry's recently commissioned Energy Dept. study on the effect of renewable energy on the power grid and its relationship, if any, to hastening the demise of the coal industry.

Then Desi Doyen joins us for Green News Report special coverage of the Harvey disaster and, speaking of Exxon, news of refinery shutdowns and toxic petrochemical spills amid the flooding at two of its units in Houston.

Oh, and Donald Trump showed up in Texas today and reportedly turned the appearance into a rally "in front of a few hundred Trump supporters who somehow managed to know exactly where the president was doing the briefing," according to Dallas Morning News' pool reporters. "What a crowd, what a turnout," he said...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: National Academy of Sciences study on health impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining halted by Trump Administration; New Orleans still grappling with flood emergency as potential hurricane brews in the Gulf of Mexico; Volkswagen is bringing back the iconic minibus --- and this time it's electric!; PLUS: California again proves Trump wrong --- climate regulations boost economic growth... 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): Study confirms what Exxon knew about climate change vs. what it told the public; DOE grid reliability study is a Rorschach test; California has a climate problem, and its name is cars; Northeast states propose 30 percent greenhouse gas cut; NIH unit deletes references to climate 'change'; Zinke won't eliminate any national monuments; Bundy Ranch trial ends with zero guilty verdicts; Alaska's permafrost is thawing, with major climate implications; Ocean warming takes toll on undersea kelp forests... PLUS: Trump thinks clean coal is when workers mine coal and then actually 'clean it'... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: U.S. Coast Guard planning for six feet of sea level rise by 2100; U.S. House Science Committee chairman pushes myth that climate change will be "beneficial"; Rome may go to water rationing amid serious drought; Oil companies sued over climate change; Hundreds of new panda-shaped Chinese solar farms; South Miami law mandates solar; PLUS: Environmental factors linked to serious decline in North American men's sperm counts... 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 threatens to protect the environment if Alaska senators don’t back health care bill; Unusual weather phenomenon explains simultaneous eastern and western India flooding; AEP plans the largest onshore wind farm in the U.S in OK; CA's marine sanctuaries face new offshore drilling threat from Trump Admin; New massive plastic garbage patch found in Pacific Ocean; EPA to seek public comment on water rule repeal; Bundy follower gets 68 years in prison for role in armed NV standoff; New database shows myriad pollutants in U.S. water systems... PLUS: New diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2040... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Iceberg the size of Delaware finally breaks off of Antarctica; Tesla will build the world's biggest battery in 100 days --- or it's free; Trump's EPA moves to revive the controversial Pebble Mine in Alaska; PLUS: France moves to phase out coal and the internal combustion engine... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions; Ranchers fight KXL pipeline by building solar panels on its route; CA cap-and-trade program headed for crucial vote with controversial compromises; UK invests millions in vehicle-to-grid battery storage; Conservative lawmakers want to bar military programs for climate change research, adaptation; Coastal towns confront retreat vs. stay as sea levels rise; Environmental groups challenge EPA decision to allow unlimited dumping of fracking chemicals into Gulf of Mexico; Puget Sound oyster industry struggling as ocean acidifies... PLUS: Nuclear plant shutdowns a crisis for small towns... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Experimental 'clean coal' plant...switches to natural gas; Trump's EPA moves to undo landmark clean water rule; World's first floating wind farm takes shape off the coast of Scotland; PLUS: Utah lawmaker blames environmentalists for massive forest fire... 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 Administration officials question climate change while praising carbon cuts; EPA official pressured EPA scientist to change testimony; More than 20 wildfires blazing across the West; We have until 2020 to get emissions under control; Carbon in atmosphere mysteriously rising even as man-made emissions remain flat; DOE Sec. Perry's claims on grid reliability immediately debunked by federal regulator; Trump's monument review stirs passions in NM; Report reveals U.S. nuclear industry negligence; Ozone hole recovery jeopardized by new chemical... PLUS: The future of Coal Country.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Record heat wave scorches Western U.S.; New criminal indictments in the Flint Water Crisis; Massive wildfire in Portugal kills more than 60; May 2017 was second, or third, hottest May ever recorded; PLUS: A court victory and major environmental award for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe... 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): CNBC allows Rick Perry to spout nonsense on live TV; Bitter scientific debate erupts over the future of America's power grid; Big Oil joins organization calling for a carbon tax; Scientists report nearly-unheard of Antarctic melt event; PA Supreme Court rules oil and gas royalties from public lands must be used for conservation; U.S. electric grid experts say no cyberattacks in 2016, but still cause for concern; Hundreds of scientists call for ban on anti-bacterial chemicals; Fish are migrating north, away from warmer waters; Once rare, wildfires increasing across Great Plains; Houston fears rising sea levels; Atlantic salmon population continues to decline... PLUS: Exxon makes a biofuel breakthrough... and much, MUCH more! ...