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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Donald Trump taps Exxon Mobil CEO for Secretary of State; Potential Interior Department chief wants to sell off public lands; Trump transition team’s chilling request for names of Dept. of Energy scientists working on climate policy; PLUS: Federal aid for Flint, Michigan lead pipes and coal miners, finally clears the U.S. Senate… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Investment Funds Worth Trillions Are Dropping Fossil Fuel Stocks; After Years Of Drama, Farmers Score A Big Win In California Water Battle; Pipeline Spills 176,000 Gallons Of Crude Into North Dakota Creek; Offshore Wind, Which Trump Fought In Scotland, Now Online In U.S.; Donald Trump’s Climate Denial Is A Problem, And These News Headlines Are Making It Worse… PLUS: Santa In Trouble? Reindeer Shrink In Arctic As Climate Changes… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Donald Trump picks Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson for Sec. of State:
- VIDEO: CEO Speaker Series: A Conversation with Rex W. Tillerson (Council on Foreign Relations)
- Transcript: Donald Trump on Cabinet picks, transition process (Fox News Sunday)
- Rex Tillerson: an appointment that confirms Putin’s US election win (Guardian UK)
- Exxon Knew: Exxon’s Own Research Confirmed Fossil Fuels’ Role in Global Warming Decades Ago (InsideClimate News):
Top executives were warned of possible catastrophe from greenhouse effect, then led efforts to block solutions.
- Trump says ‘nobody really knows’ if climate change is real (Washington Post)
- Can ExxonMobil Be Found Liable for Misleading the Public on Climate Change? (Bloomberg News, 9/7/16)
- A Year in the Life of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin (MSNBC)
- TV News Takes The Bait On Trump’s Climate Remarks, Ignoring Ample Warning Signs (Media Matters)
- Trump picks Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rogers (R-WA) to head Interior Dept.:
- VIDEO: Washington’s McMorris Rodgers expected to be nominated for interior secretary (KIRO Seattle)
- Trump Taps Climate Change Denier for Secretary of Interior (Scientific American)
- Conservation advocates alarmed by Trump’s choice of McMorris Rodgers as Interior secretary (Desert Sun)
- Trump’s Expected pick for Interior: Who is Cathy McMorris Rodgers? (American Rivers):
President-elect Trump’s expected pick for Interior raises concerns about the future of our rivers, clean water supplies, wild salmon and our nation’s priceless natural heritage.
- Trump team demands names of Energy Dept. scientists:
- Trump transition team for Energy Department seeks names of employees involved in climate meetings (Washington Post):
While there have been many instances of political appointees and career scientists clashing in various administrations, what is novel is the request for the names of so many individual scientists, and the fact that it comes during the transition period, before the Trump administration has even taken power. This may be a signal of even more intense politicization after the inauguration.
- Transition Questionnaire Raises Concerns [PDF] (NY Times)
- Energy Department says it won’t give Trump team list of climate change staffers (Ars Technica)
- Trump team threatens massive funding cuts for NASA climate science research:
- Memo Outlines Planet-Killing GOP Energy Policy (Climate Crocks):
President-elect Donald Trump is set to gut US environmental regulations, open up federal lands for fossil fuel extraction, and quit the Paris climate agreement, according to documents seen by Energydesk. A memo penned by Thomas Pyle, head of the Department of Energy transition team, and obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy…
- Follow-Up: More on Trump’s Catastrophic Plan to Gut NASA’s Earth Science (Slate):
As expected, the days leading up to Donald Trump’s inauguration are like the timer on an atomic bomb ticking down to Armageddon. Every day there’s some new horrific thing he and his cronies do, and the only predictable thing they do is find the worst possible choice to make in any given circumstance.
- Tennessee: Obama Interior Dept. bans coal mining on some TN mountain-ridges:
- Feds ban mountaintop mining in Tennessee (USA Today):
The federal government on Wednesday banned mountaintop coal mining from more than 500 miles of ridges in East Tennessee’s Cumberland Mountains, handing a victory to the state and to conservationists who have long sought to protect the region’s forests and streams.
- Editorial: Mountaintop mining ban will protect Upper Cumberland (Knoxville News-Sentinel)
- Senate Republicans allow vote to fund Flint water system, extend retired coal miners’ health care:
- Congress passes at least $120M in funding for Flint water (USA Today)
- Flint””At Long Last””Will Receive Funding for New Water Pipes; Long-delayed Flint Aid Contained in Bill That Also Guts California Bay-Delta Protections (NRDC)
- Soon-To-Expire Health Benefits For Coal Miners Are At The Center Of The Government Funding Fight (Huffington Post):
A provision would protect miners’ health care benefits but not their dwindling pensions.
- Senate Democrats Give Up On Coal Miner Health Benefits, Averting Government Shutdown (Huffington Post)
- Republicans betray coal miners (Kentucky Times-Union)
Scientists at the biggest U.S. oil company understood as early as anyone that fossil fuel emissions were heating up the earth’s atmosphere.
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- Investment Funds Worth Trillions Are Dropping Fossil Fuel Stocks (NY Times)
- Gates Leads $1 Billion Clean Energy Fund To Fight Climate Change (Reuters)
- After Years Of Drama, Farmers Score A Big Win In California Water Battle (McClatchy)
- Pipeline Spills 176,000 Gallons Of Crude Into North Dakota Creek (CNBC)
- Offshore Wind, Which Trump Fought In Scotland, Now Online In U.S. (Washington Post)
- EPA’s FOIA Adversary, Chris Horner, Now On The Inside (e&E News)
- Santa In Trouble? Reindeer Shrink In Arctic As Climate Changes (Reuters)
- Pick of Tillerson for State Puts Climate Diplomacy in Exxon CEO’s Hands (InsideClimate News)
- Donald Trump’s Climate Denial Is A Problem, And These News Headlines Are Making It Worse (Media Matters)
- New Video: The Perfect Tide – Sea Level and the Future of South Florida (Climate Crocks)
- No country on Earth is taking the 2 degree climate target seriously (Vox):
If we mean what we say, no more new fossil fuels, anywhere.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident (Hansen, PDF)