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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Obama Administration steps in to support Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and temporarily halt Dakota Access pipeline; Why the oil industry is pushing for more pipelines; Judge rules against plan to open a million acres of public lands to fracking in California; Alabama's unfinished nuclear plant for sale, cheap; PLUS: Here we go again --- August 2016 breaks record, ties for hottest month ever recorded in human history... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Super Typhoon Meranti is about to hit Taiwan; One Year of Coal CEO Pay Could Retrain Every US Miner to Work in the Solar Industry; Wilderness lost: Earth's wild lands in catastrophic decline; With U.S. Election in Sight, Ban Seeks Quick Action on Climate Accord; Constitutional Scholars Object to Lamar Smith's Exxon Subpoenas; ittsburgh Water: Expensive, Rust-Colored, Corrosive... PLUS: This one quote shows what angry white guys mean when they talk about government overreach... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
- Justice Dept. halts construction on Dakota Access pipeline in support of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe:
- A Judge Sided with Dakota Access, But the Feds Decide to Halt Pipeline Construction Instead (The Stranger)
- VIDEO: Jane Kleeb on eminent domain abuse in pipeline infrastructure projects (MSNBC)
- Iowans Sue to Stop Dakota Access Pipeline, Say It Provides No Public Service (Democracy NOw)
- A Pipeline Fight and America's Dark Past (Bill McKibben, New Yorker)
- VIDEO: Dakota Access Pipeline Company Attacks Native American Protesters with Dogs and Pepper Spray (Democracy Now!)
- Why the oil industry is pushing for more pipelines - to lock in fossil fuel infrastructure:
- VIDEO: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr Stands with Standing Rock Tribe and also talks renewable energy (Drone B Wild)
- Judge rules against BLM plan to open 1 million acres of public lands to fracking:
- Judge Blocks Central California Oil Development Over Fracking (SF Gate):
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the U.S. Bureau of Land Management from opening more than 1 million acres in Central California to oil drilling because the agency did not properly explore the potential dangers of fracking. - Legal Victory Overturns Federal Plan to Open 1 Million Acres of California Public Land to Drilling, Fracking (Center for Biological Diversity)
- BLM Must Take a “Hard Look” at Fracking Impacts (California Environmental Law blog, Stoel Rives):
The court found that these brief references to fracking fell well short of a reasonably thorough discussion, particularly since the RMP anticipates that 25% of new wells will be fracked. The EIS did not discuss the “unique” environmental concerns of fracking, such as groundwater contamination and seismic activity. - NASA: August 2016 ties for hottest month ever recorded in human history:
- Earth just had its hottest August on record, NASA finds (Mashable):
August 2016 was the warmest such month on record, according to preliminary data released by NASA on Monday...In addition, August tied July for the distinction of being the hottest month of any month on record...This was unexpected, since the planet's seasonal temperature cycle typically peaks in July, but global warming and natural climate variability has thrown that off, at least for this year. - Costa Rica: 80+ days running on only renewable electricity:
- Costa Rica has gone 76 straight days using 100% renewable electricity (Vox):
Costa Rica is pulling off a feat most countries just daydream about: For two straight months, the Central American country hasn’t burned any fossil fuels to generate electricity. That’s right: 100 percent renewable power...At the same time, a closer look at the story shows just how difficult it would be for other countries to pull off something similar.- Alabama has an unfinished nuclear plant for sale, real cheap:
- For sale: Multibillion-dollar, non-working nuclear power plant, as is (Washignton Post):
Construction ground to a halt in 1988, when energy demand in the region flat-lined. Still, Chardos, the Bellefonte site director, said he expected to see the plant up and running one day.But Bellefonte has never burned an ounce of nuclear fuel or delivered a watt of power. - TVA scraps Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant, puts it up for sale (Times Free Press)
'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...
- This one quote shows what angry white guys mean when they talk about government overreach (Vox):
Rolling coal is new; it just caught on a few years ago. It does not improve the performance of a truck. It has no practical application or pragmatic purpose of any kind. It is purely aggressive, a raw expression of defiance: I can pollute your air, for no reason, and no one can stop me. - Super Typhoon Meranti, with 185-mile-per-hour winds, is about to hit Taiwan (Mashable):
Super Typhoon Meranti reached an extraordinary peak intensity on Tuesday morning eastern time, becoming the strongest storm recorded anywhere on the planet this year, with estimated maximum sustained winds of 185 miles per hour. - One Year of Coal CEO Pay Could Retrain Every US Miner to Work in the Solar Industry (GreenTech Media):
The federal government on Friday unveiled its vision for wind farms off of nearly every U.S. coastline by 2050, in an effort to generate 86 gigawatts of electricity from offshore wind — enough zero-carbon power for more than 23 million homes. The National Offshore Wind Strategy, part of the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan, calls for major investments in offshore wind farm construction now that North America’s first offshore wind farm has been completed off of Rhode Island and 11 areas of the Atlantic Coast have been leased for future wind development. - Rising Temps: Wheat, one of world's most important food crops, threatened by climate change (Washington Post):
Now, a new study published Monday in Nature Climate Change reiterates concerns that wheat — the most significant single crop in terms of human consumption — might be in big trouble. After comparing multiple studies used to predict the future of global crop production, researchers have found that they all agree on one point: rising temperatures are going to be really bad for wheat production. - Wilderness lost: Earth's wild lands in catastrophic decline (CS Monitor):
Conservationists say policies designed to protect wilderness could reverse the trend, but only if policymakers act quickly. - BLM Advisory Panel Votes To Slaughter 45,000 Wild Horses Now Being Held (Inhabitat):
Last Friday, the Bureau of Land Management‘s (BLM) National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board made the decision to use euthanasia to kill 45,000 wild horses currently captive in government holding facilities throughout the US. The decision has come under great scrutiny by organizations who argue for using birth control to minimize population growth, instead. - With U.S. Election in Sight, Ban Seeks Quick Action on Climate Accord (NY Times):
As the United Nations General Assembly converges in New York on Tuesday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is using the gathering of world leaders to rush the 2015 Paris climate change accord into legal force this year, hoping to bind all countries to its strictures for at least the next four years — regardless of the outcome of the presidential election in the United States. - Constitutional Scholars Object to Lamar Smith's Exxon Subpoenas (Inside Climate News):
Letter from nine legal scholars says Rep. Smith's subpoenas of state attorneys general and organizations were 'invalid and constitutionally impermissible. - Pittsburgh Water: Expensive, Rust-Colored, Corrosive (Guardian UK):
In many American cities, finding elevated lead levels in drinking water is enough to spark serious concern. But in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where many residents are delivered expensive, rust-colored and corrosive water, it’s just one of many of complaints. - California tightens climate change rules under bills signed by governor (Reuters):
The bills, which were opposed by most Republicans, extend the state's greenhouse gas emissions reduction program to 2030 and require a reduction in carbon emissions to 40 percent below the level released in 1990...The measures also increase oversight of the state's air pollution control agency by appointing two members of the legislature to the State Air Resources Board and requiring the board to publish emissions data for factories, power companies and other facilities. - The Truth Behind The Kochs' New Fossil Fuel PR Campaign (Climate Progress):
Behind the latest Koch-funded effort to hide the impacts of fossil fuels. - As Oceans Continue to Warm, Consequences Grow More Dire, Study Says (InsideClimate News):
Much of the heat of global warming has been absorbed by the sea, with a steep cost to marine life, ecosystems and the people that depend on them. - Environmental records shattered as climate change 'plays out before us' (Guardian UK):
Temperatures, sea levels and carbon dioxide all hit milestones amid extreme weather in 2015, major international 'state of the climate' report finds.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
- NASA Video: If we don't act, here's what to expect in the next 100 years: