Follow @GreenNewsReport...

 


(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Obama's State of the Union goes big for fracking... but Big Green says it's a bridge to nowhere; Big Fossil Fuel has a new mega-astroturf group; Extreme weather paralyzes Atlanta on behalf of Big Business; PLUS: NSA spied on UN climate talks, according to new Snowden docs ... 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): WV water tests positive for formaldehyde; Shell won't drill offshore in Arctic this year; Shell ordered to pay $11b oil spill fine to Nigeria; Monarch butterflies in steep decline; Climate hawk Rep. Henry Waxman to retire; Great Lakes drying up; New conflicts of interest in Keystone XL environment review; Climate change killing baby penguins; ... PLUS: One Vid to Rule Them All: “If There’s Global Warming, How Come it’s So Cold?” ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Obama: 'Natural gas is a bridge fuel'. Big Green: 'No, it's not.':
• Transcript: Obama's State Of The Union Address As Prepared For Delivery (NPR)
• Jekyll And Hyde: The Two Sides Of Obama’s Energy Strategy (Climate Progress)
• AUDIO: KPFK 'BradCast': Obama's 'Jekyll and Hyde' SOTU Climate and the GOP's Derangement Syndrome (The BRAD BLOG)
• Why President Obama’s Natural Gas ‘Bridge’ May Be On The Verge Of Collapse (Climate Progress)
• Obama's Energy Strategy Draws Sharp Criticism From Green Groups As Oil And Gas Take Center Stage (AP)
• Obama says fracking can be a ‘bridge’ to a clean-energy future. It’s not that simple. (Washington Post):
  
  If the world wants to meet its climate goals, the "bridge" would have to be short. In a paper last year in Climatic Change, energy expert Michael Levi laid out some hard numbers and scenarios...
• Environmentalists cringe as Obama touts oil and gas (Fuel Fix)
• New Big Business Front Group: 'Partnership for a Better Energy Future':
• Business groups form multi-million dollar campaign to fight Obama’s climate plan (Washington Post) [emphasis added]:
  
  A coalition of business, energy and farm groups are spending millions of dollars to fight the Obama administration’s effort to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other sources. The Partnership for a Better Energy Future, which includes the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, shows the extent to which business groups are coordinating in order to resist the president’s climate action plan. One of the plan’s key proposals is a regulation to curb carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, which will be unveiled in June.
• Atlanta Snowpocalypse: Lessons Learned?:
• Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal Takes Blame For Poor Storm Preparations (AP)
• How Atlanta's History Helped Set the Stage for This Week's Weather Debacle (Atlantic Cities)
• VIDEO: Atlanta's Deadly Snow Emergency (MSNBC's Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell)
• NSA Spied on UN Climate Negotiators in 2009:
• Snowden Docs: U.S. Spied On Negotiators At 2009 Climate Summit (Kate Sheppard & Ryan Grim, Huffington Post) [emphasis added]:
  
  Members of the Danish delegation indicated in interviews with Information that they thought the American and Chinese negotiators seemed "peculiarly well-informed" about discussions that had taken place behind closed doors. "Particularly the Americans," said one official. "I was often completely taken aback by what they knew."
• Snowden revelations of NSA spying on Copenhagen climate talks spark anger (Guardian UK)

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

• VIDEO: One Vid to Rule Them All: National Journal Discovers Climate Crocks. “If There’s Global Warming, How Come it’s So Cold” (Climate Crocks) [emphasis added]:
  
  I got a call from National Journal this morning wanting to know more about the vid, how it was made, and what my “position” was at Greenman Studio. I explained that my current position was standing in the kitchen with a dishrag and a coffee cup.
• The One Video to Shut Down All of the Climate-Change Deniers (National Journal): Weather experts explain why you're freezing in the polar vortex—and what it means for global warming.
• Tests said to find formaldehyde in West Virginia tap water: (NY Times):
  
  Tests on the water supply in Charleston, W. Va., a week after a chemical spill tainted the city’s water system turned up traces of formaldehyde, suggesting that 'there’s a lot more we don’t know' about the consequences of the spill, an environmental expert told a state legislative committee on Wednesday.
• Monarch Butterflies Drop, Migration May Disappear (AP) [emphasis added]:
  
  The stunning and little-understood annual migration of millions of Monarch butterflies to spend the winter in Mexico is in danger of disappearing, experts said Wednesday, after numbers dropped to their lowest level since record-keeping began in 1993.
• Shell won't drill offshore in Alaska Arctic this year; 'reviewing our options,' CEO says (Anchorage Daily News):
  
  The decision came as Shell reported a steep drop in earnings and its new CEO announced plans to restructure operations to improve the company's cash flow. CEO Ben van Beurden cited last week's court ruling that threw offshore Arctic oil leases into question.
• Bonga Oil Spill: Shell ordered to pay N1.8 trillion fine (The Herald Nigeria)
• The Extraordinary Climate And Environmental Legacy Of Henry Waxman - and who might be able to fill his shoes (Climate Progress):
  
  A Waxman-less Congress leaves a gaping hole on serious climate policy. Former Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), the Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee when Waxman was Chair, described him as a formidable opponent: “he may be short in his stature, but he can be 10 feet tall if you get in his way.”
• California drought: Past dry periods have lasted more than 200 years, scientists say (San Jose Mercury News)
• The Great Lakes Go Dry: How One-Fifth Of The World’s Fresh Water Is Dwindling Away (Climate Progress)
• New Documents Raise Questions About Keystone Environmental Study (Buzzfeed):
  
  TransCanada recommended the contractor conducting State Department environmental review of the pipeline environmentalists have said is biased towards TransCanada. The company did not disclose that the two firms had worked together previously.
• California drought: communities at risk of running dry (SF Gate)
• VIDEO: Climate change is 'killing Argentina's Magellanic penguin chicks' (BBC):
  
  Penguin chicks in Argentina are dying as a direct consequence of climate change, according to new research. Drenching rainstorms and extreme heat are killing the young birds in significant numbers.
• The Billionaires Paying to Make You Doubt Climate Change…And the Scientist Taking them to Court (IAcknowledge Blog)
• Anti-fracking activist barred from 312.5 sq miles of Pennsylvania (Guardian UK)
• Foundations Band Together to Get Rid of Fossil-Fuel Investments (NY Times):
  
  Seventeen foundations controlling nearly $1.8 billion in investments have united to commit to pulling their money out of companies that do business in fossil fuels, the group announced on Thursday.
• New York Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order on Oil by Rail Safety (DeSmogBlog)
• Industry Awakens to Threat of Climate Change (NY Times):
  
  Today, after a decade of increasing damage to Coke’s balance sheet as global droughts dried up the water needed to produce its soda, the company has embraced the idea of climate change as an economically disruptive force.
• U.N. Says Lag in Confronting Climate Woes Will Be Costly (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
  
  Nations have so dragged their feet in battling climate change that the situation has grown critical and the risk of severe economic disruption is rising, according to a draft United Nations report. Another 15 years of failure to limit carbon emissions could make the problem virtually impossible to solve with current technologies, experts found.
• Warmer seas 'are making fish smaller' (Guardian UK):
  
  Species in the North Sea decreased in length by up to 29% over nearly four decades as water temperatures rose, scientists found.

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

• Video Proof That Global Warming is a 'Hoax'!: NASA Temperature Data 1888-2011 (The BRAD BLOG):



• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).

                 

Article Categories: NSA, Georgia, National Security, Accountability, Environment, Henry Waxman, Barack Obama, Republicans, Green News, EPA, Nigeria, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Fracking, Natural gas, Coal, Solar energy, Climate change, Extreme weather, Keystone XL