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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: 'The Paddle in Seattle' - 'kayaktivists' hit the water to stop Shell's Arctic drilling; Good news for breathers - study finds new rules for power plants will save lives...but Republicans already trying to stop them; PLUS: Indigenous tribe in British Columbia says 'NO' to natural gas billions ... 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): Massive Antarctic ice shelf will disappear in a few years; El Nino set to upset commodities markets; Texas bans local fracking bans; Emails show oil tycoon sought to fire fracking earthquake researchers; US extreme heat waves to rise six-fold by 2100; Pope Francis - destroyers of environment will face God's wrath; Disease spreads to US salamanders; Goldman Sachs projects crude oil prices to remain low through 2020... PLUS: Shell Assures Nation Most Arctic Wildlife To Go Extinct Well Before Next Spill ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• VIDEO: Watch and weep: GOP make series of fart jokes at climate change hearing (House Natural Resources Committee - Democrats)
• Paddle in Seattle: Seattle City Councilman Mike O'Brien on Stopping Shell Oil:
• AUDIO: People v. Shell Oil in Seattle; Truth v. Iraq War Lies at Fox 'News' (The BRAD BLOG) [emphasis added]:
  
  O'Brien says the City Council has determined that Shell is there "in violation of the existing permits," and tells us they are now "working on enforcement actions to get them back into compliance." Unfortunately, he concedes, that may mean, for now, little more than a $500/fine fine. But he also says the city is working hard to see what else they might be able to do to block the rig from moving north this season and, as importantly, keep any more oil rigs from using the port at all in the future.
• Shell No!: A Call To the Pacific Northwest To Save the Arctic and the Climate (sHellNo!)
• ‘Paddle in Seattle’ protesters gather against Shell oil rig on Saturday (Seattle Times):
  
  They joined more than 200 other boats Saturday for Paddle in Seattle, a flotilla organized by a coalition of environmental groups, activists and tribal leaders from around the country to demonstrate concern about the impact of fossil-fuel consumption on climate change and to show disappointment in the Port of Seattle’s decision to host Shell’s offshore Arctic oil-drilling fleet.
• 'Paddle in Seattle' Arctic oil drilling protest (BBC)
• 'Shell no': Hundreds take to boats in Seattle to protest Arctic drilling (Guardian UK):
  
  Donning wetsuits and lifejackets, ‘kayak-tivists’ gather at a city park for ‘Paddle in Seattle’ as company’s drilling rig sits blocks away
• Good News for Breathers: Obama's Clean Power Plan Will Save Lives:
• US power plant carbon standards and clean air and health co-benefits (Nature Climate Change)
• Clean Power Plan Would Save Thousands of Lives Each Year (Scientific American):
  
  [Dallas Burtraw, a senior fellow at Resources for the Future and one of the study’s co-authors] said that when the power sector begins shifting away from coal-fired power plants and toward energy sources with smaller carbon footprints, like natural gas, wind and solar, the health benefits would begin materializing immediately. “Really, we are talking about a matter of days to weeks,” he said.
• The EPA’s Power Plant Rule Would Prevent Thousands Of Deaths And Hospitalizations (Climate Progress)
• FACT SHEET: Cutting carbon pollution from power plants (EPA)
• Clean Power Plan Builds on Changes Already Happening (EnergyBiz)
• Benefits of Clean Power Plan are clear: Maps of preventable premature deaths show stakes are high on key policy decisions (Harvard Gazette)
• Congressional Republicans Move to Block Clean Power Plan:
• Capito Bill Brings Out the Knives for the Clean Power Plan - Frightening Remake of Murder on the Orient Express (NRDC via Huffington Post) [emphasis added]:
  
  Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced a bill this week that she called "the principal legislative vehicle" to block President Obama's historic Clean Power Plan. Capito's bill is a big polluters' wish list - a direct attack on the Clean Air Act and the national guarantee given 45 years ago to protect all Americans' health and their environment from air pollution.
• Capito introduces bill to roll back EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan (WV Record)
• Will Power Plant Rules Cause Blackouts? (FactCheck):
  
  Coal plants emit more carbon dioxide than natural gas plants, and other sources including hydroelectric, solar, wind and nuclear emit no carbon dioxide. In 2013, coal accounted for 39 percent of U.S. power production, followed by natural gas (27 percent) and nuclear power (19 percent).
• Sierra Club Delivers Relief to Rep. Lummis Following Her Complaints Of Her Own “Greenhouse Gases” (Sierra Club):
  
  Today, the Sierra Club delivered a care kit to Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) at her office on Capitol Hill, including a package of Ultra-Strength Gas-X and a letter outlining solutions for discomfort caused by her public climate denial and opposition to clean energy.
• British Columbia: Indigenous Tribe Says 'NO' on Natural Gas Billions:
• VIDEO: Lax Kw’alaams First Nation alone in rejecting natural gas cash (APTN) [emphasis added]:
  
  A British Columbia First Nation has now rejected a natural gas deal worth over $1.15 billion. The Lax Kw’alaams band council issued a statement saying its members have voted against the deal at three different meetings....The band council says it hopes the vote sends a clear message that environmental and cultural issues override money.
• Canadian Aboriginal Group Rejects $1 Billion Fee for Natural Gas Project (NY Times):
  
  About a decade ago, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that native groups like the Lax Kw’alaams that never signed treaties must be consulted and accommodated when projects cross their land.
• For the Lax Kw’alaams, cultural identity is priceless compared to LNG (Globe & Mail)
• Lax Kw'alaams Band reject $1B LNG deal near Prince Rupert (CBC)
• No LNG project without environmental guarantees, B.C. grand chief vows (Globe & Mail)

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

• Massive Antarctic Ice Shelf Will Disappear Completely In A Few Years, According To NASA (Climate Progress):
  
  An Antarctic ice shelf roughly half the size of Rhode Island will disintegrate completely within the next few years, according to a NASA study released Thursday.
• Shell Assures Nation Most Arctic Wildlife To Go Extinct Well Before Next Spill (The Onion) [emhasis added]:
  
  “After conducting several environmental impact studies, we can confidently say that our offshore drilling operations pose absolutely no threat to the Arctic’s hundreds of native species, which will have already been completely wiped out by the time any drilling mishap or crude oil spill takes place,” said Shell spokesman Curtis Smith...
• The Real El Niño Risks An Upset To Commodities Markets (USA Today):
  
  Commodity investors are in a twist about the weather. Warmer ocean temperatures last spring indicated an El Niño event was on the horizon, signaling buys, sells, and hedging positions in securities linked to products impacted by storms and droughts. Everything from sugar prices to coffee futures were retooled.
• Dean's Email Shows Oil CEO Wanted University Quake Scientists Dismissed (Bloomberg):
  
  Oil tycoon Harold Hamm told a University of Oklahoma dean last year that he wanted certain scientists there dismissed who were studying links between oil and gas activity and the state's nearly 400-fold increase in earthquakes, according to the dean's e-mail recounting the conversation.
• Filming 'Planet Earth' Was Even Crazier Than The Documentary Itself (Huffington Post Green):
  
  It wasn't easy. The team following gibbons around the jungle suffered 50 to 100 leech bites per day, producer Tom Hugh-Jones told HuffPost, and their subjects were easily spooked by the sight of cameras. Other teams faced gail-force Arctic winds and the threat of sharks in the open ocean.
• Study: US Exposure To Heat Extremes Could Rise Six-Fold By Mid-Century (Washington Post):
  
  Vastly more Americans will be exposed to dangerous heat waves in future decades because of a combination of rising temperatures and rapid population growth in the South and West, scientists warned in a study published Monday.
• Pope Francis: Destroyers of the environment will face God’s judgment (RT):
  
  Pope Francis has warned that environmental sinners and the “powerful of the earth” will face the wrath of God of they don’t protect the environment and make sure everyone has enough to eat.
• Pressure Builds for Swift US Action Against Spreading Salamander Threat (NYT Dot Earth):
  
  There are signs of hope for American salamanders in the face of a potential biological catastrophe — a fungus that could be carried here through the global trade in exotic pets. Federal wildlife officials have signaled a crackdown may be coming on imports of amphibians.
• Goldman Sachs Sees Brent Crude Oil at $55 a Barrel in 2020 (Bloomberg):
  
  A Goldman Sachs prediction fueled predictions that the price of crude oil would remain low for another five years.
• Texas Governor Abbott signs Denton fracking bill (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram):
  
  With the stroke of his pen, Gov. Greg Abbott may have just made Denton not only the first but also the last city in Texas to ban fracking.
• Why is funding Amtrak such a struggle? Because Republican districts don’t use it. (Washington Post)
• 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

• 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, Republicans, Green News, EPA, Natural gas, Canada, Oil, Climate change, Shell Oil, Seattle