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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: No end in sight for coal ash waste spill in NC; Sniper attack exposes security vulnerabilities of aging US electrical grid; Fracking depleting water supplies in drought-stricken states; Tesla electric cars, now driving cross-country for free; PLUS: The Great Barrier Reef to become a sacrifice zone for coal ... 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): Record number of billion-dollar disasters in 2013; How to deconstruct the difficult math of Keystone XL's carbon footprint; USDA launches 'climate hubs' to help farmers with drought; Winter Olympics: downhill forecast in a warming world; From Occupy to climate justice ... PLUS: Big Coal’s ash mess follows its chemical spill. Is this some kind of bad joke? ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Mysterious Sniper Attack Exposes Security Vulnerabilities in Electric Grid:
  • Assault on California Power Station Raises Alarm on Potential for Terrorism (Wall St. Journal) [emphasis added]:
    
    [O]ne former federal regulator is calling it a terrorist act that, if it were widely replicated across the country, could take down the U.S. electric grid and black out much of the country.
  • Electricity Grid Modernization: Progress Being Made on Cybersecurity Guidelines, but Key Challenges Remain to be Addressed (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)
  • Utilities to FERC: We don't need your security measures, but thanks (Smart Grid News)
  • FERC lacks the juice to enforce smart grid security, study finds (GCN)
  • VIDEO: Alarming attack on power grid goes unsolved (The Rachel Maddow Show):
  
  
  

• North Carolina: Ongoing Coal Ash Spill STILL Contaminating Water:
• NC river turns to gray sludge after coal ash spill (Charlotte Observer):
  
  "How do you clean this up?" he said, shaking his head as he churned up the ash with his paddle. "Dredge the whole river bottom for miles? You can't clean this up. It's going to go up the food chain, from the filter feeders, to the fish, to the otters and birds and people. Everything in the ecosystem of a river is connected."
• Why coal ash is so hard to regulate (Washington Post)
• Power Plant Workers Try to Plug Coal Ash Leak in North Carolina (NY Times):
  
  Environmentalists and regulators have been warning for years that the 31 ash ponds at Duke’s power plants in North Carolina had the potential for calamity.
• Dan River ‘highly toxic’ due to Duke Energy coal ash spill (WGHP Charlotte)
• Frequent Questions on Coal Ash Waste (EPA.gov)
• Duke Energy Spills Thousands Of Tons Of Coal Ash Into North Carolina River (DeSmog Blog) [emphasis added]:
  
  Duke was warned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in September 2009 that the coal ash storage site was falling apart, and the EPA even noted several instances of coal ash sludge already leaking from corroded pipes. The EPA report also noted that portions of the dam that were supposed to be keeping the coal ash in its retention pond were crumbling.
• Great Barrier Reef to be Sacrifice Zone for Coal Profits:
• Great Barrier Reef to Become Sludge Repository For Coal Export Terminal (Science):
  
  The Australian agency tasked with managing the Great Barrier Reef has authorized what amounts to an experiment opposed by many scientists: how the iconic ecosystem will respond to mountains of sludge dumped into the waters between the reef and the Australian mainland.
• You won't believe what's happening to the Great Barrier Reef (News.com.AU)
• Grief for Great Barrier Reef, say environmentalists (Sydney Morning Herald)
• VIDEO: Barrier Reef protest targets PM's office (Brisbane Times)
• Fracking Depleting Water in Drought-Stricken States:
• REPORT: Hydraulic Fracturing & Water Stress: Water Demand by the Numbers (CERES)
• Fracking's Thirst for Water: Investors Warned of the Hidden Financial Risks (InsideClimate News):
  
  In dozens of water-scarce counties where fracking is booming, water use is at or approaching more than a billion gallons a year.
  ...
  Texas "is Ground Zero in the debate." She said "groundwater levels are depleting rapidly" in areas of intense fracking there. "There's no denying that it has had a significant impact."
• Fracking is depleting water supplies in America's driest areas, report shows (Guardian UK)
• Tesla Record: 2 Cross-Country Trips on Free Electricity:
  • 76 hours after leaving Los Angeles, two record-breaking electric Teslas reach New York City (Treehugger)
  • Tesla's convenient cross-country route (USA Today)

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

• Big Coal’s Ash Mess Follows Its Chemical Spill. Is This Some Kind of Bad Joke? (Bloomberg News):
  
  Unless we’re prepared to turn off a lot of lights and shut down a lot of factories real fast, we will have to continue to back away from coal gradually. And yes, that implies using more natural gas, which no matter what the anti-fracking forces say is a whole lot cleaner than coal and much less of a contributor to global warming.
• From Occupy to Climate Justice: There’s a growing effort to merge economic-justice and climate activism. Call it climate democracy. (The Nation)
• Record Number of Billion-Dollar Disasters Globally in 2013 (Climate Central):
  
  In all, 41 weather events caused $1 billion or more in damage in 2013 according to a report recently released by Aon Benfield, a reinsurance group. That’s one more than the previous record set in 2010.
• How to Deconstruct the Difficult Math of Keystone XL's Carbon Footprint (InsideClimate News): We may never know the Keystone XL's precise carbon footprint, but it's possible it will add up to a billion tons of CO2 over the lifetime of the project.
• US launches 'climate hubs' to help farmers face climate change. (Reuters):
  
  President Barack Obama's administration announced the formation on Wednesday of seven "climate hubs" to help farmers and rural communities adapt to extreme weather conditions and other effects of climate change.
• Winter Olympics Downhill forecast: Winter sports face an uncertain future as the planet warms (Nature Magazine):
  
  Sochi and its massive snow-making operation offer a glimpse of the future of skiing and the pressures that will confront Olympic planners as the world heats up.
• Why it's a good idea to stop eating shrimp (Treehugger): Shrimp may be small, but they have a devastating environmental impact.
• Amtrak Fights Big Oil For Use Of The Rails (NPR)
• World's Largest Solar Thermal Plant Starts Operating In Drought-Stricken California (Climate Progress)
• In Iceland, Magma Used To Create Geothermal Power For First Time (Climate Progress):
  
  After accidentally drilling into a chamber of molten lava more than a mile underground in 2009, researchers in Iceland have now found a way to use the magma to create geothermal energy.
• 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.

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: California, North Carolina, Texas, Environment, Green News, EPA, Fracking, Natural gas, Coal, Oil, Climate change, Extreme weather, Australia, Jerry Brown