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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Shell Oil returns to the Arctic (buckle up!); ALEC now pretending it never denied global warming; Kansas moves to restrict fracking after stunning increase in earthquakes; Big Oil pressured Oklahoma to downplay link between fracking and earthquakes; Texas moves to ban fracking bans; PLUS: Obama moves to train veterans for solar industry jobs….All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
4/7/2015
‘Green News Report’ – April 7, 2015 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – April 7, 2015 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): When Cronkite warned America about global warming: The Way It Was; Climate activist Tim DeChristopher calls on churches to lead global warming fight; PA fracking study on water contamination now under ethics review; Duke Energy settles for $2.5m fine for 3rd largest chemical spill in US history; NTSB seeks stiffer standards for oil tank cars; Voters want next president to favor climate policies, poll finds; Spain got 47% of its electricity from renewables last month… PLUS: Keep showering, California. Just lay off the burgers and nuts… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Greenpeace Climbs Shell’s Drilling Rig To Protest Arctic Drilling:
- Greenpeace climbs, sets up camp on Shell’s Arctic drilling rig (Alaska Dispatch News)
- 6 Greenpeace Activists Scale Shell’s Oil Rig to Protest Arctic Drilling (EcoWatch)
- Shell’s Arctic Drilling Plans Approved by Department of Interior (EcoWatch)
- Shell’s Arctic drilling plans on track as Obama administration OKs lease sale (Fuel Fix) [emphasis added]:
It also marked the second time the Obama administration has affirmed the Chukchi Sea lease sale in response to a court order and a long-running legal challenge that began even before the auction took place in February 2008.
- ALEC: Ignore Our Previous Climate Change Denial or We’ll Sue!:
- This conservative group is tired of being accused of climate denial “” and is fighting back (Washington Post):
In 2013, ALEC offered the “model legislation,” still available on its Web site, to state legislators saying that the science was uncertain about the role of human activity in changing the atmosphere. The model resolution noted that “such activity may lead to deleterious, neutral or possibly beneficial climatic changes.”
- ALEC: Stop Saying We’re Climate Deniers! (Talking Points Memo):
It’s the latest sign that ALEC has been feeling the heat over departures of a number of former members who griped over the group’s position on climate change.
- ‘Free-market’ lobbying group says it accepts the scientific consensus on global warming. It’s lying. (Salon)
- ALEC: Global Warming Could Be Good for You (National Journal, 9/24/2014)
- Kansas Calls Fracking Earthquakes “Immediate Danger” To Public Safety:
- Kansas links quakes to oil and gas, sharply limits waste disposal (E&E News):
Regulators in Kansas…cited an “immediate danger” to public safety as the reason for limiting the pressure that can be used to inject wastewater into disposal wells and the volumes that can be injected….Kansas’ move is a contrast with neighboring Oklahoma…The Oklahoma commission has also avoided explicitly linking earthquakes to disposal wells, saying getting embroiled in such a debate could bog down its response. But Kansas officials made a direct correlation..
- Big Oil Pressured Oklahoma Scientists to Downplay Fracking Earthquakes:
- Emails show Big Oil pressured US scientists over fracking’s link to quakes (Bloomberg)
- The Link Between Fracking and Oklahoma’s Quakes Keeps Getting Stronger (Mother Jones) [emphasis added]:
This year, Oklahoma has experienced an average of two quakes per day of magnitude 3.0“”enough to be felt and inflict damage to structures””or greater. That’s according to a deep, comprehensive report on the subject out in this week’s New Yorker. But even freakier than the earthquakes themselves, according to the story, is the pervasive denial of science coming from state agencies like the Oklahoma Geological Survey, whose job it is to oversee the oil and gas industry.
- Weather Underground: The arrival of man-made earthquakes. (The New Yorker):
William Ellsworth, a research geologist at the United States Geological Survey, told me, “We can say with virtual certainty that the increased seismicity in Oklahoma has to do with recent changes in the way that oil and gas are being produced.”
- Texas Moves To Ban Fracking Bans:
- Texas Lawmakers Want To Stop Towns From Banning Fracking (Climate Progress)
- Texas Legislation Would Curtail Citizens’ Ability to Challenge Pollution Permits (Texas Observer) [emphasis added]:
“Throughout this entire case they went overboard in protecting the developer,” Graham said. “Had we just been fighting with the developer, this would have ended by now.”…The “proposed legislation will limit rights of citizens to participate,” said Carol Birch, a former administrative law judge. It “fundamentally alters the nature of the process and greatly increases the burden on protestants.”
- Good News: New Program to Train 75,000 Veterans For Solar Industry Jobs:
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- VIDEO: When Cronkite Warned America About Global Warming: The Way It Was, 35 Years Ago Today (The BRAD BLOG)
- This activist went to prison for the climate. Now he wants churches to take moral leadership (Truthout)
- Keep showering, California. Just lay off the burgers & nuts. (Medium):
How changing what we eat is key to managing California’s megadrought.
- California’s water footprint is 90% food-related, and most is imported (The Pacific Institute)
- Fracking Study on Water Contamination Under Ethics Review (InsideClimate News):
Chesapeake Energy paid undisclosed fees to the lead author, whose study was based on water samples provided by the company.
- Exclusive: California used 70 million gallons of water in fracking in 2014 (Reuters):
California oil producers used 214 acre-feet of water, equivalent to nearly 70 million gallons, in the process of fracking for oil and gas in the state last year, less than previously projected, state officials told Reuters.
- Spain Got 47 Percent Of Its Electricity From Renewables In March (Climate Progress):
According to Red Electrica de Espana (REE), the Spanish peninsula got 69 percent of its electricity generation in March from technologies that produce zero carbon emissions “” that is to say, renewable energy plus some of its nuclear power.
- Voters want next president to favor climate policies, poll finds (The Hill) [emphasis added]:
Most voters want the next president to favor policies to fight climate change, outnumbering those who want a president who opposes such policies by nearly 2-to-1. The Washington Post-ABC News poll released Friday said that 59 percent want a president who “favors government action to address climate change,” compared with 31 percent who want someone who opposes government action.
- New ocean energy plan could worsen global warming (Climate News Network)
- Duke Energy agrees to pay $2.5 million in coal ash spill settlement (Reuters):
U.S. power company Duke Energy Corp agreed to a $2.5 million settlement proposed by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality relating to the 2014 coal ash spill into the Dan River in North Carolina, the DEQ said on Friday.
- NTSB seeks stiffer standards for oil tank cars (NY Times):
The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that new oil tank train cars should come with much stronger ability to withstand high heat and pressure from a crash or a blast.
- Your Beliefs on Global Warming May Depend on Where You’re From (Mashable)
- Groups sue US to halt killing of grizzlies near Yellowstone (Reuters):
Wildlife advocates are suing the Obama administration to prevent the killing of protected grizzly bears that come into conflict with sportsmen over elk they kill or wound during annual hunts in northwest Wyoming.
- Rate Of Climate Change To Soar By 2020s, With Arctic Warming 1°F Per Decade (Climate Progress):
New research from a major national lab projects that the rate of climate change, which has risen sharply in recent decades, will soar by the 2020s. This worrisome projection – which has implications for extreme weather, sea level rise, and permafrost melt – is consistent with several recent studies.
- Now’s Your Chance to Help Save the Imperiled Monarch Butterfly-and Get Paid to Do So (Take Part) [emphasis added]:
Another threat, according to Grant, has been well-intentioned individuals who have planted a tropical form of milkweed, which competes with native varieties and is not beneficial to monarchs or other pollinators.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
But exactly how bad is still an open question, and a lot depends not only on how we react, but how quickly. The rate at which humans cut down on greenhouse gas emissions–if we do choose to cut them–will have a large bearing on how the world turns out by 2100, the forecasts reveal.
Restraining global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius will require changing how the world produces and uses energy to power its cities and factories, heats and cools buildings, as well as moves people and goods in airplanes, trains, cars, ships and trucks, according to the IPCC. Changes are required not just in technology, but also in people’s behavior.
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