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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Major oil spill off the Santa Barbara coast; Another settlement reached in 2010 BP Gulf Oil Spill; Fossil fuels subsidized to the tune of $5 trillion a year; PLUS: President Obama to Coast Guard cadets: climate change is a threat to global and national security … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
5/21/2015
‘Green News Report’ – May 21, 2015 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – May 21, 2015 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): US House Republicans Vote To Restrict Research Funding; Chinese Fleets Illegally Fish in West African Waters, Greenpeace Says; In Heavily Fracked Ohio County, Unsafe Levels of Toxic Pollutants; Avian Flu Outbreak Takes Poultry Producers Into Uncharted Territory… PLUS: Experts Blast New York Times Hit Piece On EPA… 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)
- Major Oil Spill Off Santa Barbara, CA, Site of Historic 1969 Spill:
- VIDEO: State of Emergency Declared for Oil Spill Off Santa Barbara Coast (NBC Los Angeles):
California Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday issued an emergency proclamation for Santa Barbara County due to the effects of an oil spill near Refugio State Beach.
- Oil spill in Santa Barbara County may have released up to 105,000 gallons (LA Times):
The operator of an underground pipeline that ruptured and released up to 105,000 gallons of crude oil in Santa Barbara County — and tens of thousands of gallons into the ocean — said Wednesday that the spill happened after a series of mechanical problems caused the line to be shut down.
- Santa Barbara oil spill raises questions about California pipelines (CS Monitor):
Environmental groups say the Santa Barbara oil spill points to the dangers of a planned expansion of tar sands oil production in California. But other experts say pipelines remain by far the safest way to transport oil.
- 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill changed oil and gas exploration forever (LA Times)
- Another Settlement Reached in 2010 BP Gulf Oil Spill:
- Transocean reaches $212 million settlement over oil spill claims (New Orleans Times-Picayune):
The Transocean settlement — $211.7 million total — follows a similar agreement reached with Halliburton, the cement contractor on the Macondo well. Halliburton agreed to pay $1.1 billion to settle claims last September.
- Fossil Fuels Subsidized at $5 Trillion Dollars A Year:
- Fossil fuels subsidised by $10 million a minute, says IMF (Guardian UK):
‘Shocking’ revelation finds $5.3 trillion subsidy estimate for 2015 is greater than the total health spending of all the world’s governments.
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The vast sum is largely due to polluters not paying the costs imposed on governments by the burning of coal, oil and gas. These include the harm caused to local populations by air pollution as well as to people across the globe affected by the floods, droughts and storms being driven by climate change. - Obama Warns Cadets ‘Climate Change Is A Threat To Global Security”:
- VIDEO: The President Delivers the United States Coast Guard Academy Commencement Address (White House)
- President Obama To Coast Guard Graduates: Climate Change Is A ‘Serious Threat To Global Security’ (Climate Progress):
Climate change will directly impact the Coast Guard’s activities. In addition to causing rising sea levels and diminishing sea ice, which will literally change the shape of the Coast Guard’s purview, climate change is also behind increased extreme weather events and can contribute to political instability. In his speech, Obama referenced climate change’s role in Superstorm Sandy, as well as in war and terrorism in Syria and Nigeria.
- Remarks by the President at the United States Coast Guard Academy Commencement (White House) [emphasis added]:
[W]e need to act — and we need to act now. After all, isn’t that the true hallmark of leadership? When you’re on deck, standing your watch, you stay vigilant. You plan for every contingency. And if you see storm clouds gathering, or dangerous shoals ahead, you don’t sit back and do nothing. You take action — to protect your ship, to keep your crew safe. Anything less is negligence. It is a dereliction of duty. And so, too, with climate change. Denying it, or refusing to deal with it endangers our national security. It undermines the readiness of our forces.
- White House Report: The National Security Implications of a Changing Climate (White House)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- Experts Blast New York Times Hit Piece On EPA (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
The New York Times put a 1,700-word piece on its front page Tuesday that accuses the EPA of violating federal laws on grassroots campaigning. The paper ran the story despite knowing the accusation is not true, a fact that is buried deep in the article. How is that journalism?
- US House Republicans Vote To Restrict Research Funding (AFP):
US House Republicans voted to place limits on funding for scientific research, including climate change studies, as they passed legislation that more narrowly defines their priorities.
- Chinese Fleets Illegally Fish in West African Waters, Greenpeace Says (NY Times):
Chinese fishing fleets, driven by plummeting catches close to home, are flocking to distant West African waters, where they engage in ecologically ruinous bottom trawling, subterfuge and other illegal activities that threaten marine resources in a region already under pressure from overfishing, according to a report issued on Wednesday by Greenpeace.
- In Heavily Fracked Ohio County, Unsafe Levels of Toxic Pollutants (InsideClimate News):
New study finds fracking releases cancer-causing chemicals into the air many times higher than the EPA considers safe.
- Avian Flu Outbreak Takes Poultry Producers Into Uncharted Territory (NPR):
An avian flu outbreak is sweeping across the Midwest at a frightening pace, ravaging chicken and turkey farms and leaving officials stumped about the virus’s seemingly unstoppable spread.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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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