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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Another offshore drilling blowout in the Gulf; More tar sands oil spills in Alberta; Obama talks climate, clean energy and infrastructure; GOP just makes stuff up; Louisiana agency sues Big Oil over wetlands destruction; Young voters won't vote for climate change deniers; PLUS: Is the melting Arctic an "economic time bomb"? ... 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): Winter is the new summer in Australia; The new climate activists; Palo Alto switches 100% renewable energy; Frackfinder mapping tool needs your help; Obama admin caves to industry on fracking rules; Feds halt mining in designated solar zones; Buffet says coal in permanent decline; WA approves oil train export terminal; Reports on the death of Peak Oil are greatly exaggerated ... PLUS: NASA Video: This is your country in 2100 ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• VIDEO: House Republicans Sacrifice Environment to Spite Obama: (The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC)



Congressional republicans decided they were going to prebutt the president's big speech today by announcing ahead of the speech that their plan on energy in the environment is to cut the budget of the epa by a third. Oh, yeah, environmental protection, who needs it, especially now. house republicans ahead of president obama's big speech today moved to cut funding to the epa by 34%. And while the president is insisting that americans reduce carbon emissions, republicans included provisions in their bill today to block the epa from controlling carbon emissions. house republicans while they were at it, voted to slash the president's funding request for renewable energy. I know everybody says slash whenever they're talking about 2% cuts or whatever, look at this, it's a 72% cut for renewable energy. that's slashed. The top republican in the house appropriations committee laughed about it to reporters, saying, his priorities are going nowhere.
• GOP Lies Again on Keystone XL Jobs: [PDF] (Cornell University) [emphasis added]:
  
  By repeating inflated numbers, the supporters of KXL approval are doing an
  injustice to the American public in that expectations are raised for jobs that simply cannot be
  met. These numbers—hundreds of thousands of jobs!—then get packaged as if KXL were a
  major jobs program capable of registering some kind of significant impact on unemployment
  levels and the overall economy. This is plainly untrue. [p.28]
• Louisiana Blowout: Another Offshore Drilling Accident in the Gulf:
• Gulf of Mexico natural gas well stops flowing gas and fire is subsiding (NOLA Times-Picayune)
• PHOTOS: Hercules Drill Rig Engulfed in Flames - Now What? (Sky Truth)
• New data shows government oversight of oil and gas spills is spotty at best (High Country News)
• Gas-Well Blowout Revives Doubts on Drilling Safety (Wall St. Journal)
• Louisiana Flood Control Agency Sues Big Oil Over Delta Destruction
• Historic lawsuit seeks billions in damages from oil, gas, pipeline industries for wetlands losses (NOLA Times-Picayune)
• Jindal demands East Bank levee authority drop lawsuit against oil, gas, pipelines (NOLA Times-Picayune)
• VIDEO: Science to be key factor in lawsuit against oil and gas companies for coastal loss (NOLA Times-Picayune)
• 'No End In Sight' for Ongoing Tar Sands Spills in Alberta:
• ‘Nobody understands’ spills at Alberta oil sands operation (Toronto Star):
  
  Oil spills at an oil sands operation in Cold Lake, Alberta have been going on for weeks with no end in sight, according to a government scientist.
• No one knows how to stop these tar-sands oil spills (Grist)
• Arctic Melt Methane Release An 'Economic Time Bomb':
• Arctic ice melt could cost an extra $60 trillion, say researchers (CS Monitor): Methane gas released from the melting Arctic ice could accelerate global warming and tack on an extra $60 trillion to the cost the world is expected to incur from climate change.
• MAYBE NOT: Methane mischief: misleading commentary published in Nature (Washington Post):
  
  Yet most everything known and published about methane indicates this scenario is very unlikely. This piece should never have been published without discussing this critical point.
• Polar Thaw Opens Shortcut for Russian Natural Gas (NY Times)
• Obama Again Pushes for Climate Action, Infrastructure Spending:
• VIDEO: Remarks by the President on the Economy --- Knox College, Galesburg, IL (WhiteHouse.gov)
• Transcipt: Remarks by the President on the Economy --- Knox College, Galesburg, IL (WhiteHouse.gov)
• Insurance Industry, Republicans Split on Climate Change (Bloomberg)
• Climate Change Will Cause More Energy Breakdowns, U.S. Warns (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
  
  The effects are already being felt, the report says. Power plants are shutting down or reducing output because of a shortage of cooling water. Barges carrying coal and oil are being delayed by low water levels in major waterways. Floods and storm surges are inundating ports, refineries, pipelines and rail yards. Powerful windstorms and raging wildfires are felling transformers and transmission lines.... “The cost today is measured in the billions. Over the coming decades, it will be in the trillions. You can’t just put your head in the sand anymore.”
• 'Crazy', 'Ignorant': Young Voters Reject Climate Denier Politicians:
• Voters think Republican climate dissenters 'crazy', bipartisan poll finds (Guardian UK): Results show risks that deniers in Congress pose to GOP as majority of younger constituents back Obama's carbon plans
• Climate Poll: Three-Quarters Of Young, Independent Voters Describe Deniers As ‘Ignorant, Out Of Touch Or Crazy’ (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
  
  Among those unfavorable to the president, 56% still supported him taking action on climate change.
  79% said they were more likely to vote for a candidate who supported taking action on climate change; 73% they were less likely to vote for someone who opposed climate action plans like the president’s.
  74% of Independents and 53% of Republicans used the words “ignorant, out of touch, or crazy” to describe deniers.

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

• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (Live Science):
  Scientists hope that the drastic results of CO2 emissions will provide motivation for Americans to start thinking about adaptive strategies to prepare for change.




• The New Climate Radicals (The Nation): Climate activists Ken Ward and Jay O'Hara are reminiscent of the human-centered, Quaker-inspired anti-nuke founders of Greenpeace.
• Winter is the new summer in Australia: Melbourne's hottest ever July day (Melbourne Herald-Sun)
• Palo Alto switches to 100% renewables – at a cost of $3 a year (Renew Economy)
• Obama Administration Caves To Fracking Industry in New Proposed Rules (NRDC):
  
  The new proposed rules are a significant step backwards even from the weak proposal the Administration released in May of 2012, and, if enacted, will allow fracking to continue to pose unacceptable risks to the environment and public health.
• US Halts Mining In Designated Solar Energy Zones (Clean Technica)
• Renewable energy transmission projects create tension among greens (High Country News):
  
  You’ve got your grid-oriented greens on the one hand, who believe that the only way to slow or reverse climate change is by attacking it on a large scale, with big wind farms, big solar plants and big power lines to ship it across long distances. And on the other, the grassroots groups who feel that sacrificing local ecosystems to fight climate change isn’t the answer.
• FrackFinder: Mapping and Tracking Fracking Sites With Your Help (SkyTruth)
• Port of Vancouver Unanimously Approves Oil Terminal Lease (Columbian)
• Feds update plant to protect Great Lakes from Asian Carp (AP)
• Warren Buffett Says Coal’s Decline in U.S. to Be Gradual Yet Permanent (BusinessWeek)
• EU investment bank to stop financing coal-fired power plants: (Guardian UK):
  
  The European investment bank (EIB), the EU's main lending arm, said it would stop financing most coal-fired power stations to help the 28-nation bloc reduce pollution and meet its climate targets.
• China to spend $275 billion to address the problem of air pollution over the next five years (AP)
• Chevron to Spend $844 Million on Remote Projects (NY Times)
• Reports of the Death of Peak Oil Have Been Greatly Exaggerated (Mother Jones)
• VIDEO: For The Wealthy, Climate-Gated Communities. For the Rest of Us, Whatever is Left (Climate Crock of the Week)
• Indonesia's Palm Oil Industry Rife With Human-Rights Abuses (BusinessWeek):
  
  Among the estimated 3.7 million workers in the industry are thousands of child laborers and workers who face dangerous and abusive conditions. Debt bondage is common, and traffickers who prey on victims face few, if any, sanctions from business or government officials.
• Reuters Climate Change Coverage Declined Significantly After "Skeptic" Editor Joined
  New Analysis Backs Whistleblower's Claims (Media Matters):
  A Media Matters study finds that Reuters' coverage of climate change declined by nearly 50 percent under the regime of the current managing editor, lending credence to a former reporter's claim that a "climate of fear" has gripped the agency.
• Here's How the Koch Brothers Retaliate Against Journalists They Don't Like (Grist)
• New Study Predicts Dramatic Sea Level Rise: (Reuters):
  
  Sea levels could rise by 2.3 metres for each degree Celsius that global temperatures increase and they will remain high for centuries to come, according to a new study by the leading climate research institute, released on Monday.

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

                 

Article Categories: MSNBC, Accountability, U.S. House, Environment, Barack Obama, Republicans, Economy, Green News, Rachel Maddow, BP Oil Disaster, EPA, Coal, Canada, Chevron, Oil, Wind energy, Solar energy, Climate change, Extreme weather, NASA, Keystone XL, Australia