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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Alaska National Wildlife Refuge on the chopping block --- again; California officials warn of toxic ashes from the state's devastating wildfires; Like Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands struggling without power or clean water; PLUS: Shell Oil opens electric vehicle charging network at gas stations --- in Britain... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Video: 1 million Americans without power in Puerto Rico; Paris talks set in awkward moment for Trump Admin; With fast-charging, electric cars will soon match or beat gasoline cars in every respect; Iowa governor: Trump 'committed' to ethanol; Hurricane Maria recovery requires extensive federal response; Trump abandons plans to help climate refugees; Developing world struggles with obsolete pesticides; EPA says higher radiation levels pose 'no harmful effect'; Company to pipe water out of Mojave desert to cities... PLUS: Trump voters in storm-ravaged county confront climate change.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• CA Wildfires: Firefighters gain ground, officials warn of toxic ash:
• VIDEO: California wildfires could leave behind toxic mess, health officials warn (CBS News)
• U.S. EPA to oversee toxics cleanup after fires in Sonoma and Napa counties (San Jose Press Democrat):
  
  [A]t no expense to residential property owners, officials said Tuesday...the chore looms so large the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will manage the first phase, which involves removal of toxic materials from thousands of fire-scorched properties.
• Cleanup From California Fires Poses Environmental and Health Risks (NY Times):
  
  "Just think of all the hazardous materials in your house," she said in an interview. "Your chemicals, your pesticides, propane, gasoline, plastic and paint - it all burns down into the ash. It concentrates in the ash, and it's toxic," said Dr. Relucio, who declared a public emergency over the hazardous waste from the fires, as have at least two other counties.
• Firefighters expect full containment on Wine Country wildfires by Friday (SF Gate)
• California Wildfire Damage Estimates Top $3 Billion, State Senator Says (Yahoo Finance)
• California Fires: Record Hot Summer, Wet Winter Created Explosive Mix (Inside Climate News)
• California's new normal? Ever more-intense heat, fires, droughts and floods (Sacramento Bee)
• Update on US Virgin Islands, still in crisis:
• Addressing the Looming Cost of Rebuilding (St. Thomas Source):
  
  The new measure authorizes $4.9 billion in loans to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Both communities are already debt-beleaguered and this approach to assistance further exacerbates local financial problems. Governor Kenneth Mapp has requested $5.5 billion of disaster relief...The initial efforts at rebuilding our Virgin Islands will be supported by FEMA grants and loans, insurance proceeds, and charitable donations. Funding available from those sources will not address a $5.5 billion need...A parsimonious Congress and Administration will undoubtedly step back from doing more than is absolutely essential.
• Today is day 41 that St. John, US Virgin islands is 100% without power following Hurricane Irma. Please keep us in the news. (Twitter: @StJUSVI)
• Case Of Leptospirosis, A Sometimes Deadly Disease, Reported In USVI; Dept. Of Health Launches Investigation (US VI Consortium News)
• President Trump Doesn't Know He's the President of the U.S. Virgin Islands (Newsweek)
• EPA steps in as Puerto Ricans grow desperate for clean drinking water (Climate Progress)
• The 2017 Hurricanes Didn't Just Hit Puerto Rico-They Hit the Caribbean (The Nation)
• ANWR: GOP Lawmakers Open Door to Arctic Drilling:
• VIDEO Markey, Bennet, Franken & Merkley Call for Removing Arctic Refuge Drilling from GOP Budget (Senate Democrats Youtube channel)
• Senators gear up to fight oil's 'poison pill' in the budget (Climate Progress):
  
  Republican lawmakers have said they will open the reserve to raise revenue for the federal budget.
• GOP Lawmakers Open Door to Arctic Drilling (NBC)
• TransCanada abandons two tar sands pipelines:
• TransCanada Ends Bid to Build Energy East Oil Pipeline (Bloomberg):
  
  Oil line would have linked landlocked Alberta to east coast...Company does not expect to recover costs from third-parties
• TransCanada to abandon Energy East and Eastern Mainline projects (Reuters):
  
  Canada's National Energy Board (NEB) expanded the scope of its review of Energy East in August, saying it would consider the project's indirect greenhouse gas contributions and provide "more visibility" to the evaluation of risks associated with accidents such as oil spills.
• TransCanada blames 'substantial uncertainty' for killing Energy East pipeline (Fianncail Post)
• Canada's Pipeline Industry Takes Another Hit (Oil Price):
  
  Keystone XL still faces a lot of headwinds as well, despite the support from the Trump administration. The pipeline expansion is still awaiting some legal decisions in the state of Nevada, but even if the courts give the project a greenlight, it's not clear that TransCanada still thinks the project is worth it.
• Judges reinstate methane leak rules:
• Courts Thwart Administration's Effort to Rescind Obama-Era Environmental Regulations (NY Times):
  
  The rapid-fire push by the Trump administration to wipe out significant chunks of the Obama environmental legacy is running into a not-so-minor complication: Judges keep ruling that the Trump team is violating federal law....It was the third time since July that the Environmental Protection Agency or the Interior Department has been found to have acted illegally in their rush to roll back environmental rules.
• Federal judge reinstates Obama-era rule on methane emissions (AP):
  
  U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte of the Northern District of California said Interior had failed to give a "reasoned explanation" for the changes and had not offered details why an earlier analysis by the Obama administration was faulty. She ordered the entire rule reinstated immediately.
• Federal rules target the costly waste of methane (Environmental Defense Fund):
  
  Oil and gas companies throw away $330 million of gas belonging to the public yearly
• Shell Oil opens EV charging stations, buys EV charging network:
• Europe's largest oil company buys Europe's largest electric vehicle charging network (Treehugger)
• Shell launches fast-charging stations for electric vehicles (Independent):
  
  The first fast-charging stations are near London and in northern England
• Oil giant Shell bets on electric cars (CNN):
  
  Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) revealed a deal on Thursday to acquire NewMotion, one of Europe's largest electric vehicle charging providers. NewMotion specializes in converting parking spots into electric charging stations. The Dutch firm has more than 30,000 electric charge points in Europe... "This is a way of broadening our offer as we move through the energy transition," Matthew Tipper, Shell's vice president of new fuels, told CNNMoney in an interview. "It's certainly a form of diversification." That may be an understatement. Consider that NewMotion says its founding mission was to "contribute to a cleaner world by eradicating fossil fuels."
• Shell launches fast-charging stations for electric vehicles (Independent):
  
  The first fast-charging stations are near London and in northern England
• Shell buys its first electric car charging station firm in Europe (Green Car Reports)
• World petrol demand 'likely to peak by 2030 as electric car sales rise' (Guardian UK)

'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

• VIDEO: 1 million Americans without running water. 3 million without power. This is life one month after Hurricane Maria. (CNN)
• New Talks on Paris Climate Pact Are Set, and That’s Awkward for U.S. (NY times)
• In Glyphosate Review, WHO Cancer Agency Edited Out 'Non-Carcinogenic' Findings (US News & World Report)
• With fast-charging, electric cars will soon match or beat gasoline cars in every respect (Climate Progress)
• Trump 'Committed' To U.S. Renewable Fuels: Iowa Governor (Reuters)
• Recovering from Hurricane Maria Requires an Extensive Federal Response (Center for American Progress)
• Trump abandons Obama-era plan to help climate refugees (Grist)
• Dem Senator Puts Holds On Two EPA Nominees (The Hill)
• Republican Tactic Aims to Open Eastern Gulf, Arctic to Oil Rigs (Bloomberg)
• Developing World Still Struggling With Obsolete Pesticides (BNA News)
• EPA Says Higher Radiation Levels Pose ‘No Harmful Health Effect’ (Bloomberg)
• Trump’s Mine-Safety Nominee Ran Coal Firm Cited for Safety Violations (Pro Publica)
• Trump Green-Lights Company's Plan To Pipe Water From Mojave To Cities (Desert Sun)
• Pruitt Hints He Will Keep Scientists With EPA Grants From Advising Agency (Washington Post)
• Trump Voters In Storm-Ravaged County Confront Climate Change (AP)
• The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
  
  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak - sooner than you think.
• 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

• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).

                 

Article Categories: California, Alaska, Environment, U.S. Senate, Democrats, Republicans, Green News, EPA, Donald Trump, Canada, Oil, Extreme weather, U.K., Ed Markey, China, Transportation, Electric vehicles, Shell Oil, Dept. of Interior, Public lands, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria