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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Toxic mine spill contaminates waterways across three Southwest states; Only one mention of climate change in both Fox ‘News’ debates last week; Ohio Gov. John Kasich backtracks on global warming; PLUS: Shell Oil breaks up with ALEC… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
8/11/2015
‘Green News Report’ – August 11, 2015 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – August 11, 2015 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): US Carbon Pollution From Power Plants Hits 27-Year Low; Scotland To Ban Growing of Genetically Modified Crops; Hot Enough for You? This Is Just the Beginning; Inside Shell’s Extreme Plan to Drill for Oil in the Arctic; Toxic Algae Blooming in Pacific from California to Alaska Is Affecting Your Seafood; Japan Restarts Reactor After Break Due To Fukushima… PLUS: Australia unveils emissions reduction target ahead of Paris talks, is immediately criticized… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- VIDEO: Jon Stewart Last’s Daily Show – ‘Beware the Bullshitters’:
- Toxic Mine Spill Contaminates Rivers in CO, NM, UT:
- San Juan County spill highlights years of Colorado cleanup effort (Denver Post)
- What the EPA was doing when it sent yellow sludge spilling into a Colorado creek (Washington Post) [emphasis added]:
The sight of the wastewater, long pent up in a mine that hasn’t been operational since 1923, shocked the state and put the EPA in the hot seat….“Folks could go out and do what they want and walk away from the sites, and this is one of them,” she said….The Animas River Stakeholders Group that was set up to deal with the issue after the mines were closed, which includes Sunnyside Gold Corp., didn’t have the estimated $12 million to $15 million it would take to treat the contaminated runoff.
- Thousands of mines with toxic water lie under the West (AP) [emphasis added]:
Stover said it was particularly galling that the Animas was contaminated by the very chemicals that environmental officials have been trying to remove from its watershed. “It’s very unfortunate,” Stover said. “We’ve been fighting this war for years, and we’ve lost a battle. But we’re going to win the war.”
- Silverton not ready to bid farewell to mining: Since it left in 1991, economic prospects have suffered (Durango Herald, 8/5/2013)
- Fox News Debates: Only ONE Question on Climate Change:
- VIDEO: The Irony Of Fox’s Debate Question To Lindsey Graham (Media Matters):
Fox News debate moderator Bill Hemmer questions Lindsay Graham’s stance on climate change – after Graham previously said the network would try to quash any attempt to take action on the matter.
- That time Lindsey Graham crafted a bill to destroy the economy (Vox.com)
- Fox News Had Time To Ask The Candidates If They’ve ‘Received Word From God,’ But Not These 7 Topics (Climate Progress)
- Lindsey Graham Calls Out Fellow Republican Candidates Over Climate Change Views (Climate Progress)
- Ohio Gov. John Kasich Backtracks on Man-Made Global Warming:
- VIDEO: OH Gov. John Kasich on Meet the Press (NBC)
- John Kasich Dismisses Climate Change As ‘Some Theory That’s Not Proven’ (National Journal):
The Kasich 2016 campaign sought to clarify the candidate’s remarks following his appearance on Meet the Press, saying: “The governor has long believed climate change is real and we need to so something about it. The debate over exact percentages of why it is happening is less important than what can be done about it. We know it is real, we know man has an impact, and we know we need to do something.”
- Did Kasich Just Do an About-Face on Climate Change? (Yahoo Finance)
- Shell Oil Breaks Up with ALEC:
- Shell to leave ALEC, citing climate change stance (RTCC):
Fossil fuel giant to make significant break with US lobbying organisation accused of obstructing low carbon policies.
- Shell Just Broke Up With ALEC Over Climate-Change Denials (Climate Progress)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- US Carbon Pollution From Power Plants Hits 27-Year Low (AP):
A big factor was the long-term shift from coal to cleaner and cheaper natural gas, said Energy Department economist Allen McFarland. Outside experts also credit more renewable fuel use and energy efficiency.
- Scotland To Ban Growing of Genetically Modified Crops (Reuters):
Scotland’s devolved government said on Sunday it intended to ban the growing of genetically modified (GM) crops on its territory to protect its “clean and green brand” and because there was little evidence that Scottish consumers wanted GM products.
- Hot Enough for You? This Is Just the Beginning (E&E News):
Millions of people around the world are experiencing a scorching summer, as records are broken and thermostats climb this week in parts of Europe. Temperatures in Paris and Brussels exceeded 90 degrees Fahrenheit at a time of year when 70-degree weather is the norm, according to Accuweather.com. In Bandar-e Mahshahr, Iran, temperatures climbed to 115 F last week. The temperature, together with high humidity, felt like 163 F to hapless people directly exposed to the weather, according to Accuweather. That is the second-highest known “heat index” value ever recorded, said Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather aficionado who maintains one of the world’s most comprehensive datasets of extreme temperatures. The highest heat-index value ever recorded was 174 F in 2003 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, he said.
- Inside Shell’s Extreme Plan to Drill for Oil in the Arctic (Bloomberg):
A global oil glut has tanked prices and cut profits—so why won’t Shell give up on the north?
- The King of Coal Reveals $1 Million Bet on Jeb Bush (Bloomberg):
Chris Cline, the billionaire coal baron, revealed himself today as the donor behind a $1 million contribution to a super-PAC supporting Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign.
- Toxic Algae Blooming in Pacific from California to Alaska Is Affecting Your Seafood (AP):
A vast bloom of toxic algae off the West Coast is denser, more widespread and deeper than scientists feared even weeks ago, according to surveyors aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel.
- Japan Restarts Reactor After Break Due To Fukushima (Miami Herald):
A power plant operator in southern Japan restarted a nuclear reactor on Tuesday, the first to begin operating under new safety requirements following the Fukushima disaster.
- Australia unveils emissions reduction target ahead of Paris talks (Reuters Sustainability):
Conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday announced cuts to Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions that were immediately criticized by environmental groups and opposition politicians for lagging behind other advanced economies.
- In California, an unsatisfying settlement on pesticide-spraying (Center for Public Integrity):
The EPA touted its only preliminary finding of discrimination in a civil-rights case, but the complainants were less than thrilled with the outcome
- Every country is now pledging to tackle CO2 emissions. It’s still not enough. (Vox.com):
In other words, if the world wants to stay below 2°C of global warming – which has long been considered the danger zone for climate change – these pledges are only a first step. Countries will have to do a whole lot more than they’re currently promising. And the IEA has a few ideas for what “do a whole lot more” might entail.
…
1. Increase energy efficiency in the industry, buildings, and transport sectors.
2. Progressively reduce the use of the least efficient coal-fired power plants and banning their construction.
3. Increase investment in renewable energy technologies in the power sector from $270 billion in 2014 to $400 billion in 2030.
4. Gradually phase out fossil fuel subsidies to end-users by 2030.
5. Reduce methane emissions in oil and gas production. - 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.
Those poor people and wildlife are going to be poisoned for years by that EPA blunder.
This is crazy. Some guy wrote a letter to a local Colorado paper describing exactly what would happen when the EPA plugged whatever it was they plugged up well before it happened.
The guy thinks this is a conspiracy to obtain superfund money. That sounds nuts of course, but after you read the letter you have to wonder why a retired engineer could predict what would happen almost exactly after a town hall meeting where the EPA described its plans, but the engineering team at the EPA had no clue. Very fishy.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2...uperfund-money
Correction to last post. It wasn’t a town hall meeting but apparently the newspaper discussing the plans with the EPA representative and publishing it. Also, the writer is a retired geologist.
SH – to be clear, it was an EPA contractor that was doing the work on the mine: http://www.wsj.com/articles/epa...ion-1439414672
But they are experienced, so it could also be that they were trying to do the job on the cheap, since Congress has cut the agency’s budget so much.
As far as the idea that the spill was a conspiracy to force Superfund status, I’m pretty sure the EPA wouldn’t have to create a horrible accident that would open it up to further condemnation from all corners. As I understand it, the EPA could simply declare it as Superfund, but was trying to work with, and be sensitive to, the desires of locals.
See this great in-depth article on the efforts to clean up the Gold King Mine, and the 22,000+ other mines in Colorado. It addresses the Superfund controversy: http://www.kunc.org/post/animas...llution-legacy
Thanks Desi. That second article is scary. The solutions seem to cause more problems than they solve.
I still wouldn’t completely absolve the EPA of responsibility. The sub contractor basically acted with criminal negligence at the very least and the EPA should have vetoed the plan.
Another series of examples that show why companies should be forced to factor in externalities in the cost of operations, and if they cannot raise enough capital to deal with them then they should not be allowed to do it in the first place (in reference to the original mining companies).
SH @ 2:
In re: that article at ZeroHedge you linked to. They had me until “Sound like something a government entity would do? Just ask Lois Lerner…”
Wingnuttery. The rest of the article, discussing so-called free market solutions as preferable to EPA regulation, confirms that. The mine in question has been abandoned since 1923. I guess the free market owners of that mine just hadn’t gotten around to cleaning up after themselves yet.
@6
Certainly they have a political ideology on zero hedge which I don’t always agree with and I am sure you would rarely agree with. They do have great financial market coverage though. Apparently most if not all of the anonymous editors work or worked on Wall Street and they are extremely critical of it and central bank policies.