With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
By Desi Doyen on 2/16/2016, 12:31pm PT  


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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: The passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia leaves U.S. climate action --- and the planet --- hanging in the balance; Hillary Clinton calls for assistance for Coal Country; Bernie Sanders keeps hammering Republicans on climate change; Game-changing affordable electric cars coming next year! PLUS: The worst natural gas leak in U.S. history is finally plugged.... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Organic diet cuts pesticide exposure in children; L.A. gas leak plugged, but California pipelines regularly leak; Gasoline keeps getting dirtier while alternatives keep getting cleaner; How the Climate Challenge Could Derail a Brilliant Human Destiny; Utilities just declared war on solar; New Bill Would Clean Up Abandoned Coal Mines And Jump Start The Appalachian Economy; Arizona loses 25 percent of solar jobs in 2015; Texas cities ask federal officials to cancel drilling leases; How utility executives see the future of the electricity business... PLUS: The decisions we make about climate change today will reverberate for millennia. No pressure.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

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

  • The decisions we make about climate change today will reverberate for millennia. No pressure. (Vox.com)
  • L.A. gas leak plugged, but California pipelines regularly leak (SF Chronicle):
    [E]very day, pipelines across California leak tons of the same gas - methane - into the air. And the total amount collectively leaked each year likely exceeds the vast volume of methane spewed from the Aliso Canyon blowout near Porter Ranch, according to one state estimate.
  • Gasoline keeps getting dirtier while alternatives keep getting cleaner (Vox.com):
    Emissions from gasoline aren't rising because cars are polluting more. They aren't. Thanks to fuel economy standards, per-gallon emissions from gasoline combustion are holding roughly steady in the US. What's rising is emissions from oil extraction and refining.
  • Oxford’s Halley Professor on How the Climate Challenge Could Derail a Brilliant Human Destiny (Dot Earth):
    This long-term view shows that the next few decades offer a brief window of opportunity to minimize large-scale and potentially catastrophic climate change that will extend longer than the entire history of human civilization thus far.
  • Utilities Just Declared War On Solar (NASDAQ.com) [emphasis added]:
    Building new power plants and other large infrastructure is at the core of utility industry’s business model. Since those costs can be passed onto the ratepayer in the form of regulated rates, building expensive infrastructure is actually a source of profit. Customers switching to solar ends up hitting the utility’s bottom line twice by no longer buying as much electricity and upended the utility’s case for costly new power plants and transmission lines.
  • New Bill Would Clean Up Abandoned Coal Mines And Jump Start The Appalachian Economy (Climate Progress):
    The RECLAIM Act, introduced Wednesday by five representatives from Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, would make $1 billion available to coal communities that “have traditionally relied on the coal industry for employment or have recently experienced significant coal job losses,” according to a release from bill sponsor Hall Rodgers (R-KY).
  • Arizona loses 25 percent of solar jobs in 2015 (Biz Journals):
    “These significant losses are no surprise, given the regulatory and legislative hurdles facing our industry," said Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association president Tom Harris. One would hope this industry, the only one to create 10,000 new, high-paying jobs during the recession, would receive significant support from our elected officials.”
  • Rick Snyder faces hometown backlash over Flint water crisis (Detroit Free Press):
    Protests, wanted posters with the Snyder's face boldly affixed to utility poles around the city, and a well-publicized heckling incident at a local tavern are signs that the bustling college town where Snyder has spent a chunk of his adult life could be turning against him, Fecteau and other residents said.
  • Why Solar Power has Utilities Running Scared (Climate Crocks):
    [I]f retail rates rise and incentives for solar decline, the game changes. Under those circumstances, when generating surplus energy the solar customer faces a new choice. She can sell her power to the utility (for below retail rate) or she can store it and use it later, when she would otherwise be paying retail rate. In other words, the lower net metering rates get, the more solar rooftop customers have incentive to consume as much of their self-generated power as possible.
  • Texas cities ask federal officials to cancel drilling leases (Bakken.com):
    Some North Texas cities and environmental groups have asked federal officials to halt plans to allow gas drilling under a lake that’s a drinking water source for millions and has a dam cited by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as being in hazardous condition.
  • How utility executives see the future of the electricity business (Utility Dive):
    Here are some of the key findings from Utility Dive's third annual State of the Electric Utility report
  • Organic Diet Cuts Pesticide Exposure In Children, Berkeley Study Finds (San Jose Mercury News):
    A new scientific study [documents] that organic food can substantially lower pesticide exposure in children from low-income families in both urban and rural areas.
  • NJ Fighting Rise In Water Tainted By Common Chemical (Bergen Co. Record):
    A man-made chemical used in the manufacture of stain-resistant carpets, waterproof clothing, non-stick cooking pans and other products that make life less messy has spread so far through the environment that it can be found everywhere from the fish in the Delaware River to polar bears in the Arctic — and even some drinking water in North Jersey.
  • Ford Spent $40 Million To Reshape Asbestos Science (Center for Public Integrity):
    Stung by lawsuits, the automaker hired consultants to change the narrative on the risks of asbestos brakes/
  • Maryland To Fight Dominion Plan To Release Coal-Ash Water Into VA Creek (Washington Post):
    Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh’s office said Monday that it plans to fight a plan by the Dominion Virginia Power company to release about 215 million gallons of treated coal-ash water into a creek that connects to the Potomac River.
  • Air Pollution Blamed For 5.5 Million Deaths Annually (CS Monitor):
    More than 5.5 million people die from air pollution each year, with more than 3 million of these deaths occurring in China and India, announced researchers Friday at the 2016 annual meeting for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
  • Sea-Level Rise 'Could Last Twice As Long As Human History' (Guardian UK):
    Huge sea-level rises caused by climate change will last far longer than the entire history of human civilisation to date, according to new research, unless the brief window of opportunity of the next few decades is used to cut carbon emissions drastically.
  • 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

  • Skeptical Science: Database with FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Myths
  • 4 Scenarios Show What Climate Change Will Do To The Earth,
  • From Pretty Bad To Disaster (Fast CoExist):

    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.
  • How to Solve Global Warming: It's the Energy Supply (Scientific American):
    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.
  • Warning: Even in the best-case scenario, climate change will kick our asses (Grist)
  • NASA Video: Warming over the last 130 years, and into the next 100 years:
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