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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Record rain and deadly mudslides slam California in wake of record of wildfires; Trump Administration reverses expansion of offshore drilling - but only for Florida; PLUS: New York City sues the oil industry over billions in damages from climate change, and announces divestment from fossil fuels... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Exxon counter-sues cities suing it over climate damages; Climate change has been scrubbed from federal websites; Trump can't stop coal losing out to natural gas; Oil industry slams Zinke for closing Florida waters to offshore drilling; Trump renominates ‘overwhelmingly unfit’ nominee for top environmental position; Zinke plans massive re-organization of Interior Dept.; Sea level rise unlocking decades-old pollution; Ford truck owners suit alleges emissions cheating; Trump's EPA could allow minors to handle dangerous pesticides; EPA limits information on chemical safety reviews; Climate change threatens barley, and your beer... PLUS: How a coal baron's wish list became Trump's to-do list... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• California: Record rain and deadly mudslides hit in wake of record wildfires:
• Search for victims of California mudslides widens as death toll grows (NBC News)
• VIDEO: California mudslides death toll rises with 13 still missing (BBC):
  
  Hundreds of rescuers are combing wreckage in Southern California for survivors... More than 100 homes were destroyed, and another 300 have been damaged. One rescue worker tearfully described plucking a "muddy doll" of a toddler from under several feet of debris. Berkeley Johnson said the two-year-old girl was taken to hospital and suffered an injury to her hip...After a wildfire, burned vegetation and charred soil create a water repellent layer which blocks water absorption. Together with the loss of vegetation, this leads to an increased risk of mudslides and floods.
• VIDEO: Californian mudslides: 'Like a World War I battlefield’ (BBC)
• Family and Friends of Missing Montecito Residents Take to Social Media (Santa Barbara Independent)
• First-Person Stories from the Montecito Mudslides (Santa Barbara Independent)
• 2017 Shatters Records With $306 Billion In Damages From Climate-Linked Disasters (Huffington Post):
  
  Sixteen $1 billion-plus weather- and climate-related events killed at least 362 people.
• Zinke reverses offshore drilling expansion, but only for Florida:
• Florida Is Exempted From Coastal Drilling. Other States Ask, ‘Why Not Us?’ (NY Times):
  
  Mr. Zinke’s sudden flip-flop on Florida drilling allows Governor Scott to tout the decision as evidence of his influence with the White House. Mr. Trump’s critics say the move highlights the president’s willingness to blatantly use the nation’s public lands and waters as political bargaining chips. It also appears to illustrate the clumsiness with which the Trump administration drafts federal policies...Throughout his political career, Governor Scott has veered between supporting and opposing offshore drilling.
• Trump administration delivers favor to Florida GOP by removing state from offshore drilling plan (Climate Progress)
• Former ethics chief on Zinke exempting Florida from drilling: You’re making us a ‘banana republic’ (The Hill)
• Gov. Jerry Brown: Trump's plan to expand offshore drilling is 'reckless, short-sighted' (LA Times):
  
  “For more than 30 years, our shared coastline has been protected from further federal drilling and we’ll do whatever it takes to stop this reckless, short-sighted action,” Brown said in a joint statement with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee...“We won’t forget history or ignore science,” the statement said.
• Trump administration to expand drilling off U.S. continental waters (Washington Post)
• Secretary Zinke Announces Plan For Unleashing America's Offshore Oil and Gas Potential (U.S. Dept. of Interior)
• PUBLIC COMMENT: Submit comment on the Draft Proposed Program to expand offshore drilling by March 9, 2018 (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)
• New York City sues 5 oil majors, and will divest from fossil fuels:
• VIDEO of press conference: As New York City Declares War on the Oil Industry, the Politically Impossible Suddenly Seems Possible (the Intercept)
• Climate Action: Mayor, Comptroller, Trustees Announce First-In-The-Nation Goal to Divest From Fossil Fuels (Office of the Mayor)
• New York City plans to divest $5bn from fossil fuels and sue oil companies (Guardian UK):
  
  Mayor Bill de Blasio: ‘It’s up to the fossil fuel companies whose greed put us in this position to shoulder the cost of making New York safer and more resilient’
• To Fight Climate Change, New York City Takes on Oil Companies (NY Times):
  
  Seeking to position himself as a national leader against climate change, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday announced a two-pronged attack against the fossil-fuel industry, including a vow that city pension funds would divest about $5 billion from companies involved in the fossil fuel business.
• NYC Sues, Divests From Oil Firms Over Climate Change (AP)
• New York City sues Shell, ExxonMobil and other oil companies over climate change (Washington Post):
  
  The suit, filed Tuesday against BP, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, claims the companies together produced 11 percent of all of global-warming gases through the oil and gas products they have sold over the years. It also charges that the companies and the industry they are part of have known for some time about the consequences but sought to obscure them.

'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

• Exxon Pushes Back on California Cities Suing It Over Climate Change (Inside Climate News)
• How a Coal Baron’s Wish List Became President Trump’s To-Do List (NY Times)
• How Much Has ‘Climate Change’ Been Scrubbed From Federal Websites? A Lot. (NY Times)
• It’s the same story under Trump as under Obama: Coal is losing out to natural gas (Washington Post)
• Oil industry slams Zinke for closing Florida waters to offshore drilling (The Hill)
• Trump renominates ‘overwhelmingly unfit’ nominee for top environmental position (Climate Progress)
• Zinke Plans To Move Tens Of Thousands Of Workers In Huge Reorganization (Washington Post)
• Sea Level Rise Is Unlocking Decades-Old Pollution (Hakai)
• Trump’s EPA Could Allow Teenage Workers To Handle Dangerous Pesticides (Huffington Post)
• Ford Sued By Truck Owners Alleging Diesel Emissions Cheating (Reuters)
• Chemicals: In Reversal, EPA Limits Information On Safety Reviews (E&E News)
• Climate Change Threatens Montana Barley Farmers, and Possibly Your Beer (Weather Channel)
• Interior Puts Grants Worth 100s Of Millions Through Political Review (Washington Post)
• Zinke announces plan for massive reorganization of Interior Dept: report (The Hill)
• AUDIO: An Inconvenient 'BradCast' with Al Gore (The BRAD BLOG):
  
  Guest Host Angie Coiro's exclusive interview with the former Vice President on elections, pollution, persuasion, activism, and hope...
• The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
  
  To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate - so every reduction in emissions helps.
• 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, San Francisco, Dept. of Interior