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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: The Great Blizzard of 2016 cripples the East Coast; Yes, it was turbo-charged by global warming as oceans now warming at an alarming rate; Obama’s Clean Power Plan survives first court challenge; U.S. can cut emissions 80 percent in just 15 years with existing tech; New rules curb methane emissions for drillers and frackers; PLUS: China overtakes Germany as the solar leader of the world… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
1/26/2016
‘Green News Report’ – January 26, 2016 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – January 26, 2016 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Meet the heroic professor who helped uncover the Flint lead water crisis; EPA official resigns over Flint water crisis; Supreme Court upholds FERC demand response electricity management; Zika virus will spread throughout Americas; Sea level rise from ocean warming underestimated; New York village has trail of cancer leading to water supplies; Monsanto sues to keep herbicide off CA carcinogen list… PLUS: Tribes oppose massive pipeline expansion… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Great Blizzard of 2016/Winter Storm Jonas Cripples the East Coast:
- Colossal Nor’easter Dumps Record Snow from Maryland to New York (Weather Underground),/li>
- Winter Storm Jonas: At Least 48 Dead; Roof Collapses Reported; D.C. Remains Shut Down (The Weather Channel)
- What’s powering this epic blizzard on the East Coast (Mashable)
- The 12 best meteorological images of the Blizzard of 2016 (Washington Post)
- Lower-than-expected D.C. snowfall total raises questions about its measurement (Washington Post)
- Meteorologist Paul Douglas: This Storm Was ‘Juiced’:
- AUDIO: Blizzard 2016 ‘Juiced’ by Climate Change Says Republican Meteorologist: ‘BradCast’ 1/25/2016 (The BradBlog)
- Is Climate Change Supercharging Storms Like Jonas And Sandy More Than We Thought? (Climate Progress):
A new analysis suggests that human-caused climate change may be having a much bigger impact on East Coast superstorms than we thought. A global slowdown in crucial Atlantic Ocean currents “” caused by global warming “” appears to be supercharging both precipitation and storm surge.
- Yes, Actually, Global Warming Probably Helped Supersize This Weekend’s Blizzard (VICE News)
- Ocean Warming Is Accelerating:
- Study: Man-made heat put in oceans has doubled since 1997 (AP):
The amount of man-made heat energy absorbed by the seas has doubled since 1997, a study released Monday showed….[T]he new study, using ocean-observing data that goes back to the British research ship Challenger in the 1870s and including high-tech modern underwater monitors and computer models, tracked how much man-made heat has been buried in the oceans in the past 150 years….”The changes we’re talking about, they are really, really big numbers,” said study co-author Paul Durack, an oceanographer at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California. “They are nonhuman numbers.”
- Obama’s Landmark Clean Power Plan Survives First Court Challenge:
- U.S. appeals court declines to block Obama carbon emissions plan (Reuters):
The court action means the regulation remains in place but it is not the final word in the legal fight….The decision by the court to deny the stay is a “good sign” for the EPA when it argues the merits of its case this summer, said David Doniger of the climate and clean air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
- The Clean Power Plan Overcomes Another Attack (Huffington Post)
- US Could Cut Emissions 78 Per Cent by 2030:
- Rapid, affordable energy transformation possible (NOAA News):
The United States could slash greenhouse gas emissions from power production by up to 78 percent below 1990 levels within 15 years while meeting increased demand, according to a new study by NOAA and University of Colorado Boulder researchers.
- US could cut power emissions 78% by 2030 using existing technology, says study (Carbon Brief)
- New Rules to Curb Methane Emissions for Drillers and Frackers:
- Plugging Methane From Oil Wells Seen Topping $125 Million (Bloomberg):
The Obama administration moved for the first time Friday to stop energy companies from releasing unwanted natural gas from oil wells drilled on federal lands, a practice that environmentalists say contributes to global warming.
- Obama officials rush to curb methane on public lands (E&E News):
Interior and environmental allies say the rule is an essential tool to combat the powerful climate warming effects of methane, the main component of natural gas, and recover royalties the government would otherwise receive on the lost gas. “The truth is, the … costs of releasing natural gas into the atmosphere are clear, significant and dangerous,” Schneider said. “If we’re wasting that much energy, we’re clearly not operating efficiently.”
- FACT SHEET: Administration Takes Steps Forward on Climate Action Plan by Announcing Actions to Cut Methane Emissions (Dept. of Interior)
- China Overtakes Germany As World Solar Leader:
- It’s official: China has the most solar PV installed globally (PV Magazine):
Buried in the latest reports on 2015 solar installations is a fact that attests to the changed landscape of global solar markets: that China has surpassed Germany and now has the largest installed solar PV capacity of any nation on earth.
- China overtakes Germany to become world’s leading solar PV country (GreenTech Media)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- ‘It was us or nobody’: Meet the heroic professor who helped uncover the Flint lead water crisis (Washington Post):
[I]n 2010, he was vindicated when it was proven that the CDC had lied to the public in a misleading report, which falsely claimed lead levels in the water had not posed a health risk to D.C. residents. “I’m obsessed with what happened in Washington, D.C.,” Edwards said in an interview last week. “Since 2005 through the present day, I’ve been trying to make sure another D.C. wouldn’t happen.”
- EPA Official Resigns Over Flint Water Crisis (Reuters):
The head of the Midwest region of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offered her resignation over the water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, the agency said on Thursday, as it issued an emergency order to resolve the growing problem.
- Supreme Court Upholds FERC on Managing Electricity Use Through Pricing (NY Times):
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that federal regulators may encourage electricity users like schools, hospitals and shopping centers to reduce consumption at peak times in exchange for price breaks. The regulatory approach, known as “demand response,” lowers costs for consumers and lessens the risk of system failures that can cause blackouts.
- Zika Virus Will Spread Through The Americas, Health Group Says (NPR):
The World Health Organization says it expects the Zika virus to spread to every country in the Western Hemisphere except Canada.
- Sea Level Rise From Ocean Warming Underestimated, Scientists Say (Guardian UK):
The amount of sea level rise that comes from the oceans warming and expanding has been underestimated, and could be about twice as much as previously calculated, German researchers have said.
- In New York Village, A Trail Of Cancer Leads To Tap Water (AP):
After his factory worker father died a painful death from kidney cancer at age 68 in 2013, Michael Hickey made it his mission to find out why so many people in his hometown along the Hoosic River were getting sick.
- Regulators Approve Health Study On Huge California Gas Leak (Reuters):
Regional air quality regulators in California voted on Saturday to require the utility responsible for a ruptured underground pipeline in the Los Angeles area to underwrite an independent study on the health effects of a huge methane leak from the site.
- Monsanto Sues To Keep Herbicide Off California List Of Carcinogens (Reuters):
Monsanto Co stepped up its defense of a widely used weed killer on Thursday by filing a lawsuit in California seeking to prevent glyphosate, the main ingredient in its Roundup herbicide, from being added to the state’s list of known carcinogens.
- US Tribes Oppose Massive Pipeline Expansion In Canada (AP):
A proposed pipeline-expansion project in Canada will put the fishing rights and cultural heritage of U.S. tribes at risk, a lawyer representing several Washington state tribes told Canadian energy regulators.
- Oregon Standoff: Militia Says It Will Take Up Arms To Defend Flint If Necessary (Climate Progress):
A group of vigilantes has vowed to take up arms to defend the city’s residents. During a rally in front of City Hall, an executive officer for the Genesee County Volunteer Militia announced the group is “not going to allow [the government] to step on the people of Flint any longer.”
- Record Warmth `Almost Certainly’ Due to Humans, Scientists Say (Bloomberg):
The odds are “vanishingly small” that recent years of record warmth aren’t due to human emissions of greenhouse gases, researchers in the U.S. and Germany said, adding to pressure on world governments to cut back on fossil fuel use.
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.
“Sea Level Rise From Ocean Warming Underestimated, Scientists Say (Guardian UK):”
Ghost-water is much more (The Ghost-Water Constant).