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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Keystone XL pipeline clears Nebraska court hurdle, moves to US Senate; Canada's tar sands and Arctic oil must remain in the ground, study warns; Fracking country braces for oil bust; PLUS: Denmark breaks world record for wind energy generation... 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): FBI allegedly entrapped 'eco-terrorist', withheld documents; NYC bans Styrofoam; GM doubles down on EVs with Chevy Bolt; Saudi prince: "never see $100 oil again"; Climate denier to oversee NASA; Good news for bats and white-nose syndrome; The Serengeti Strategy to silence, intimidate individual scientists... PLUS: The Saudis, Stones, and the End of the Age of Oil... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Keystone XL Pipeline Clears Nebraska Court Hurdle:
• Nebraska Supreme Court Majority Not Enough to Block 'Unconstitutional' Keystone XL Approval (The BRAD BLOG):
  
  Although a 4 to 3 majority of the court's jurists found the law in question to be unconstitutional, a state requirement that constitutionality be determined by a super-majority means that the lower court ruling is struck down. The state legislation allowing the revised route "must stand by default," according to the ruling [PDF]... [T]he approval is nonetheless allowed to stand on what is, essentially, a legal technicality.
• Nebraska Supreme Court Ruling Upholds Keystone XL Pipeline Route (Climate Progress)
• VIDEO: Sanders to Senators: Think of Your Grandchildren (US Sen. Bernie Sanders, Youtube):



• Keystone XL Pipeline Bill Moves to US Senate:
• Senate Keystone debate to delve into climate, oil exports (Politico)
• Keystone pipeline bill advances in US Senate (AFP)
• Study Identifies Which Fossil Fuels Must Remain Unburned - And Where:
• Climate Mission Impossible: Scientists Say Fossil Fuels Must Go Untapped (National Geographic)
• Where in the World Are the Fossil Fuels That Cannot Be Burned to Restrain Global Warming? (Scientific American):
  
  A new analysis reveals the nations-U.S. included-that must sacrifice exploiting much of their carbon-based energy resources if they are serious about combating climate change
• Limiting Tar Sands, Coal, Arctic Oil Is Key to 2°C Goal (Climate Central):
  
  A pair of British researchers used a model to compare the amount of energy stored in remaining coal, oil and gas deposits with regional energy demand and the amount of energy and pollution that’s produced when different fuels are burned. That revealed which reserves could be most efficiently exploited through 2050 without warming the planet by more than 2°C. That, in turn, revealed which fossil fuel reserves could be considered untouchable.
• Fracking States Brace For Oil Bust:
• North Dakota Boom Shaken by Oil Price Collapse (Climate Crocks):
  
  Places like Williston are now threatened with a classic Bust cycle after an expansive, and expensive, boom. Infrastructure and commercial spending stimulated by the boom may result in stranded assets, empty buildings and unemployment, if oil prices do not rebound.
• 'Kings When It's Good': Oklahoma Braces For Possible Crude Crash (NPR)
• North Dakota fracking town’s economy collapses as oil prices plummet (Raw Story)
• Plunging Oil Prices Trigger Economic Downturn in Fracking Boom Town (EcoWatch):
  
  It will just take us longer to pay for our infrastructure needs. I am optimistic that oil prices are going to go back up....“Let’s say prices do stay lower?” O’Dowd asked. “What sort of tough decisions will you have to make as mayor?”
• Plummeting oil price explained in four graphs (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Denmark Breaks World Wind Record on Path to 100% Clean Energy Economy:
• Denmark Sets World Record For Wind Power Production (Climate Progress)
• Denmark: Independent from fossil fuels by 2050 (Official Website of Denmark):
  
  It is the Danish government’s clear opinion that the green road is the one we all need to travel eventually. There is no denying, that there are strong reasons for action. In the coming decades more and more people around the world will achieve the means to a modern lifestyle, that they aspire to.

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

• The Saudis, Stones, and the End of the Age of Oil (Climate Crocks) [emphasis added]:
  
  In 2000, Sheikh Yamani, former oil minister of Saudi Arabia, gave an interview in which he said: “Thirty years from now there will be a huge amount of oil – and no buyers. Oil will be left in the ground. ... [T]o Saudi Arabia, that end is clearly not so far away that the owner of the largest, most accessible crude resource is willing to continue to subsidize higher prices for other producers at the risk of leaving its own oil untapped one day in the future.
• Role of FBI informant in eco-terrorism case probed after documents hint at entrapment (Guardian UK):
  
  Last week’s dramatic scenes in a courtroom in Sacramento, California, have focused attention on the FBI’s use of undercover informants and prompted claims that the agency lured unsuspecting activists into criminal activity through blatant entrapment.
• Banning Styrofoam, Managing Our Waste, and Promoting Sustainability (Huffington Post Green):
  
  New York City, following the lead of San Francisco and Portland, has banned styrofoam containers in an effort to change the nature of its waste stream, as the type of styrofoam being banned cannot be recycled.
• Chevy Bolt electric car could be 'the first mass-market EV success' (LA Times):
  
  General Motors, in a dramatic model debut in Detroit, says it has unlocked the magic formula. Its Chevrolet Bolt concept car will travel 200 miles between charges and sell in the low $30,000 range, after government incentives, GM executives said. The spacious four-door hatchback will go on sale in 2017.
• Saudi prince: $100-a-barrel oil 'never' again (USA Today) [emphasis added]:
  
  Saudi billionaire businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told me we will not see $100-a-barrel oil again.
• Two Climate Denying Senators Will Now Supervise the Nation's Climate Science (Mother Jones):
  
  Ted Cruz will oversee NASA, and Marco Rubio will oversee NOAA....This is as close to the analogy of putting the fox in charge of the hen house that there is.
• BPA alternative disrupts normal brain-cell growth, is tied to hyperactivity, study says (Washington Post)
• Good News For Bats! Things Are Looking Up For Stemming Disease Spread (NPR):
  
  [F]or the first time, scientists are seeing hopeful signs that some bat colonies are recovering and new breakthroughs could help researchers develop better strategies for helping bats survive.
• Report: Forget Stocks, Invest In Solar Panels (Climate Progress):
  
  A new study by the NC Clean Energy Technology Center finds that in all but 4 of the 50 largest cities in the U.S., installing a fully-financed 5 kilowatt solar panel system makes more financial sense than investing in a popular stock market index fund. Further, the same system would beat the costs of buying energy from local utilities in 42 of those 50 cities.
• CA Corruption: Public Utility Commission, PG&E email scandal widens to involve SCE, San Onofre closure (Utility Dive) [emphasis added]:
  
  It is considered unethical for commissioners to be in contact with utilities when regulatory decisions concerning them are pending, although the utilities may address communications to the five decision-makers jointly.
• The Serengeti strategy: How special interests try to intimidate scientists, and how best to fight back (Michael Mann, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists):
  
  Much as lions on the Serengeti seek out vulnerable zebras at the edge of a herd, special interests faced with adverse scientific evidence often target individual scientists rather than take on an entire scientific field at once.
• Surprise! Environmental regulations may not cost as much as governments and businesses fear (The Economist) [emphasis added]:
  
  Now, they finally have some hard figures....More importantly, the new study confirms earlier findings about the impact of individual measures: "an increase in stringency of environmental policies does not harm productivity growth." This contradicts what most governments and companies seem to believe: that green rules may be justified by the need to save the planet but impose immediate economic costs.

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: Environment, U.S. Senate, Democrats, Republicans, Nebraska, Green News, Fracking, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Natural gas, Coal, Canada, Oil, Wind energy, Climate change, Oklahoma, Keystone XL