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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Nearly 160 killed in fuel truck explosion in Pakistan; Wildfire evacuations in Spain; Sea level rise accelerating faster than predicted; Trump Admin approves deadly seismic testing in Atlantic; PLUS: Hundreds of American mayors pledge to move their cities to 100% renewable electricity in 20 years… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
6/27/2017
‘Green News Report’ – June 27, 2017 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – June 27, 2017 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Carbon in atmosphere rising, despite emissions remaining flat; Coal baron sues HBO comedy show host John Oliver; Trump and Modi meeting silent on climate; EPA official pressured EPA scientist to change testimony; CA to list glyphosate as cancer-causing, Monsanto threatens to sue; FirstEnergy’s Ohio nukes not necessary to maintain grid reliability; Coal not necessary to maintain grid reliability; Invasive Asian carp found in waterway beyond Great Lakes barrier; EPA under investigation for low-balling methane emissions estimates from oil and gas; First-of-it’s-kind ‘clean coal’ plant probably won’t burn coal at all; Four die in SW heat wave… PLUS: Campaign to eliminate plastic straws sucking in thousands of converts… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- SPEAK UP for your national monuments through July 10, 2017: Review of Certain National Monuments Established Since 1996; Notice of Opportunity for Public Comment (U.S. Government)
- Widlfire threatens national park in Spain:
- Forest fire in Spain threatens renowned national park (AP):
The reserve protects over 264,403 acres considered of extreme ecological value for their mix of ecosystems, including wetlands, dunes and woods. It is a key stop for migratory birds home to a variety of animals, including about a fifth of the 400 remaining Iberian lynxes.
- Hundreds of holidaymakers are forced to flee as a wildfire tears through a Spanish national park (UK Daily Mail)
- Battle resumes to extinguish fire near Spain national park (ABC News)
- More than 150 killed by exploding oil tanker truck in Pakistan:
- VIDEO: Pakistan fuel tanker truck explosion kills at least 153 (CNN)
- In Pakistan, a Fuel Tanker Fire Leaves at Least 150 Dead (NY Times):
“It is a horrible tragedy,” said Makhdoom Syed Hassan Gillani, the parliamentary representative of Ahmedpur East, the small city in Punjab Province where the disaster occurred. “You can blame poverty 100 percent,” he added with a heavy voice. “It was poverty. It was greed. It was ignorance.”
- 150 Die in Pakistan After an Oil Tanker Explodes (The Atlantic):
The tanker was carrying about 5,500 gallons of oil, and in a poor region of the country, where people survive on $3 a day, the prospect of free oil drew a crowd.
- Underwater sound cannons kill large swaths of plankton:
- Air guns used in offshore oil exploration can kill tiny marine life (Nature):
Powerful sound waves created during offshore surveys for oil and gas can kill microscopic animals at the base of the ocean food chain, according to a new study. And these lethal effects travel much farther than ecologists had previously assumed. Researchers fear that damage to these animals, collectively known as zooplankton, could harm top predators and commercially important species of fish that depend on such species for food.
- Atlantic Oil Surveys Could Kill Food Used By Fisheries (Climate Central):
The proposed Atlantic surveys would see arrays of airguns trawled by surveying companies up to 350 miles from the coast, fired every 10 seconds or so around the clock for up to a year. The new research suggests the proposal threatens to reduce the amount of food in the sea, as well as directly harm dolphins and other creatures.
- SC’s GOP Gov Sides With Coastal Communities Against Seismic Testing (Climate Progress)
- The rate of sea level rise is accelerating sooner than predicted:
- Sea level rise isn’t just happening, it’s getting faster (Washington Post) [emphasis added]:
In at least the third such study published in the past year, scientists have confirmed seas are rising, and the rate of sea level rise is increasing as time passes “” a sobering punchline for coastal communities that are only now beginning to prepare for a troubling future…For coastal communities, Harig said, the significance of the paper is that there’s no way to avoid the reality that sea level rise acceleration, which was already expected to occur based on scientific projections, is now here. “It’s no longer a projection, it’s now an observation,” he said. “It’s not something that they can continue to put off into the future.”
- Sea level rise is accelerating, with Greenland in leading role (Mashable):
A new study, published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, is one of a few recent works to confirm an acceleration in sea level rise during the past few decades. There had been greater uncertainty about this before, with climate deniers latching onto that and arguing that such an acceleration has not, in fact, been occurring…The findings also made clear how major contributors to sea level rise have been changing over time. And it doesn’t paint a pretty picture.
- Global sea level rise accelerates since 1990, study shows (Reuters)
- Coal production is up in 2017:
- Coal on the rise in China, US, India after major 2016 drop (AP):
The world’s biggest coal users “” China, the United States and India “” have boosted coal mining in 2017, in an abrupt departure from last year’s record global decline for the heavily polluting fuel and a setback to efforts to rein in climate change emissions. Mining data reviewed by The Associated Press show that production through May is up by at least 121 million tons, or 6 percent, for the three countries compared to the same period last year. The change is most dramatic in the U.S., where coal mining rose 19 percent in the first five months of the year, according to U.S. Department of Energy data.
- Global renewables rise from the ashes of coal’s collapse (Climate Progress):
China surpassed the U.S. to become world’s largest renewable power producer last year, BP reports.
- Hundreds of mayors sign 100% renewable energy resolution:
- U.S. Mayors Back 100% Renewable Energy, Vow to Fill Climate Leadership Void (Inside Climate News):
The U.S. Conference of Mayors also voted to support quick electrification of vehicles and urged Congress to back the Clean Power Plan and Paris climate agreement.
- Mayors, Sidestepping Trump, Vow to Fill Void on Climate Change (NY Times):
“If the federal government doesn’t act, it doesn’t mean we don’t have a national policy; the federal government doesn’t occupy the only place on this,” Mitch Landrieu, the mayor of New Orleans and the new president of the conference, said before the vote on the nonbinding resolutions.
- US mayors pass resolution to target 100% renewable energy by 2035 (Utility Dive):
The group of more than 250 U.S. mayors also passed resolutions to support vehicle electrification, energy efficiency grants and city-driven plans to reverse climate change. The resolutions are symbolic and represent statements of intent for city planning and work with federal and state governments.
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Daily Headlines page
- Carbon in Atmosphere Is Rising, Even as Emissions Stabilize (MY Times):
That raises a conundrum: If the amount of the gas that people are putting out has stopped rising, how can the amount that stays in the air be going up faster than ever? Does it mean the natural sponges that have been absorbing carbon dioxide are now changing? “To me, it’s a warning,” said Josep G. Canadell, an Australian climate scientist who runs the Global Carbon Project, a collaboration among several countries to monitor emissions trends.
- Trump and Modi Wrap Climate Change Differences in Shroud of Silence (Inside Climate News):
India sees its future in renewable energy and supports the Paris Agreement. Trump promotes fossil fuels. Neither leader mentioned climate in their public appearance.
- EPA Official Pressured Scientist on Congressional Testimony: Emails (NY Times):
The Environmental Protection Agency’s chief of staff pressured the top scientist on the agency’s scientific review board to alter her congressional testimony and play down the dismissal of expert advisers, his emails show.
- California To List Glyphosate As Cancer-Causing; Monsanto Vows Fight (Reuters):
Glyphosate, an herbicide and the active ingredient in Monsanto Co’s popular Roundup weed killer, will be added to California’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer effective July 7, the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) said on Monday.
- PJM: FirstEnergy’s Ohio nukes not necessary to maintain grid reliability (Utility Dive):
FirstEnergy Corp. nuclear plants in Toledo and Perry, Ohio, are not necessary for system reliability, according to Craig Glazer, vice president of federal government policy at PJM Interconnection and the former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio…Ohio lawmakers are considering subsidies to keep the two plants running.
- Environmentalists Rejoice: Court Says Land Regulation Doesn’t Go ‘Too Far’ (NPR):
The question is: How far is “too far”? In recent decades, property rights advocates have aggressively tried to limit regulation by demanding compensation. At the same time, cities and states have sought to manage urban sprawl, water pollution, flooding and other problems, by enacting regulations to limit what some property owners can do with their land.
- Arkansas Tries To Stop An Epidemic Of Herbicide Damage (NPR):
Arkansas’s pesticide regulators have stepped into the middle of an epic battle between weeds and chemicals, which has now morphed into a battle between farmers. Hundreds of farmers say their crops have been damaged by a weedkiller that was sprayed on neighboring fields. Today, the Arkansas Plant Board voted to impose an unprecedented ban on that chemical.
- Campaign To Eliminate Plastic Straws Sucking In Thousands Of Converts (Washington Post):
It started so innocently. A kid ordered a soda in a restaurant.
- Invasive Asian Carp Found In Waterway Beyond Great Lakes Barriers (Reuters):
A single live Asian carp, a species of invasive fish that has infested the Mississippi River and is seen as a threat to the Great Lakes, has been caught in a waterway beyond a barrier designed to keep them out, state officials said on Friday.
- EPA’s Methane Estimates for Oil and Gas Sector Under Investigation (Inside Climate News):
An environmental group argues the agency significantly underestimates methane emissions from the oil and gas industries. The inspector general is now investigating.
- EPA Sets Rules To Regulate Toxic Chemicals Under 2016 Law (AP):
The Environmental Protection Agency issued new rules and other documents Thursday outlining how it will regulate toxic chemicals under a landmark law passed by Congress last year.
- First-of-Its-Kind Clean Coal Plant May Not Burn Coal at All (Bloomberg):
A first-of-its-kind ‘clean coal’ power plant that utility owner Southern Co. spent years constructing in Mississippi may end up burning no coal at all — and instead just run like a natural gas generator.
- Coal’s Decline Not Hurting Power Grid Reliability, Study Says (Inside Climate News):
Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s electricity grid review is due out soon. Corporations and the wind industry just did their own study that counters his concerns.
- Four Die From Heat In Sweltering U.S. Southwest: Reports (Reuters):
Four people, including a homeless person and two hikers, have died from the record-breaking heat in the U.S. Southwest, media reports said, where triple-digit temperatures have driven residents indoors and canceled airline flights.
- Four Die From Heat In Sweltering U.S. Southwest: Reports (Reuters):
Four people, including a homeless person and two hikers, have died from the record-breaking heat in the U.S. Southwest, media reports said, where triple-digit temperatures have driven residents indoors and canceled airline flights.
- Coal CEO Murray Sues John Oliver, HBO, for Libel After Satire Airs (Washington Post):
‘Last Week Tonight’ host John Oliver knew he was inviting a legal battle when he used his show Sunday to lambaste one of the country’s largest coal mining companies and mock its chief executive. But it had to be done, he said.
- In Heart Of Southwest, Natural Gas Leaks Fuel A Methane Menace (Reveal Magazine):
The whoosh of the wind through the junipers, the whinny of horses in their stalls, the raspy squawking of ravens ““ those are the sounds Don and Jane Schreiber have grown to love on their remote Devil’s Spring Ranch.
- A beginner’s guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it’s possible for the whole world to run on renewables – we merely lack the “political will.” So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.
- 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
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