Follow @GreenNewsReport...

(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: EPA chief Scott Pruitt --- who still has a job --- gets grilled by Democratic Senators; Extreme storms kill 5 in Northeastern U.S.; King County, Washington files climate liability lawsuit against major oil companies; PLUS: New study finds air pollution dangers extend even into the womb... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): NASA scientists map human changes in world’s water; Someone, somewhere, is making a banned chemical that destroys the ozone layer, scientists suspect; GOP lawmaker says tumbling rocks are causing seas to rise; ‘Impossible to Ignore’: Why Alaska is crafting a plan to fight climate change; Sulfur dioxide damages lungs, and Scott Pruitt is letting more of it in our air; Trump mulls new global institution to promote fossil fuels; Ancient Rome’s collapse is written into Arctic ice; Why there’s no future for the coal industry; Judge blocks Oakland port's ban on coal shipments; Great Climate Hoax is putting fish in the wrong places... PLUS: We made plastic. We depend on it. Now we’re drowning in it.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Severe storms spawn tornadoes and widespread damage in Northeast:
• VIDEO: NWS: 3 Tornadoes Touch Down Upstate During Powerful Tuesday Storm
  Gov. Cuomo Declares State Of Emergency In 4 Upstate Counties, More Than 100,000 Residents Without Power (CBS New York)
• Did New York Just Get Hit By a Derecho? (Earther)
• 11-Year-Old NY Girl Among 6 Crushed to Death by Trees as Ferocious Storm Slams Region (NBC New York)
• Tuesday's Storm Was Strong Enough to Generate a Small 'Meteotsunami' in New Jersey (NBC New York)
• Because of climate change, hurricanes are raining harder and may be growing stronger more quickly (Washington Post)
• Extreme Weather Preparedness: Disaster preparedness is about having an established safety plan. (Weather Underground)
• EPA chief Pruitt grilled by Senate Democrats:
• VIDEO: Hearing to Review the FY2019 Budget Request for the Environmental Protection Agency (Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies)
• 'A betrayal of the American people': Sen. Udall hammers EPA chief Scott Pruitt (USA Today)
• Scott Pruitt Just Testified Before Congress. It Didn't Go Well. (Mother Jones):
  
  Democrats pressed and ridiculed him for his various scandals and extravagant spending.
• Scott Pruitt Is Trying to Fix His Ethical Nightmare With…Another Ethical Nightmare (Mother Jones)
• EPA inspector general opens investigation of Pruitt's use of multiple email accounts (AP):
  
  Inspector General Arthur Elkins says his office will review the matter despite budget and staff constraints. With the latest announcement, he is conducting about a half-dozen investigative audits of Pruitt's travel, security and other matters.
• Email challenges Pruitt account on motorcade lights, siren (CBS News):
  
  Pruitt...denied direct responsibility for alleged ethical missteps that have prompted about a dozen probes..."I don't recall that happening," Pruitt said, asked repeatedly by Udall if he had ordered lights and sirens...Udall then disclosed an internal email indicating Pruitt did.
• White House, EPA headed off chemical pollution study (Politico):
  
  The intervention by Scott Pruitt's aides came after one White House official warned the findings would cause a 'public relations nightmare.'
• What Scott Pruitt's been doing while you weren't looking (Center for Public Integrity):
  
  As the public fixates on the EPA chief's travel habits, he's making it easier for industry to pollute.
• New study finds air pollution dangers extend into the womb:
• Troubling link found between pollution exposure in pregnancy, high blood pressure in children (Washington Post):
  
  In a paper published Monday in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension, researchers reported that children of mothers who were exposed in their third trimester to higher levels of fine particulate pollution - the tiny airborne matter that causes haze in many cities around the world - were at a 61 percent higher risk of elevated blood pressure."
• Air pollution during pregnancy tied to high blood pressure in kids (Reuters)
[T]he current study offers fresh evidence linking air pollution to high blood pressure in kids, particularly because the connection appeared for kids at all birth weights in the current study.
• In-womb air pollution exposure associated with higher blood pressure in childhood (Science Daily):
  
  "Ours is one of the first studies to show breathing polluted air during pregnancy may have a direct negative influence on the cardiovascular health of the offspring during childhood...These results reinforce the importance of reducing emissions of PM2.5 in the environment."
• Exposure to air pollution in the womb triggers high blood pressure in children, study finds (Independent UK):
  
  Study co-author Dr Noel Mueller, who works at Johns Hopkins University’s school of public health, said breathing in the pollution “causes an inflammatory response that alters genetic expression and fetal growth and development, on the pathway to high blood pressure in childhood”.
• Plastic pollution confirmed in deepest parts of the ocean:
• Human footprint in the abyss: 30 year records of deep-sea plastic debris (Science Direct):
  
  Plastics are ubiquitous even at depths >6000m (over 3.7 miles down) and 92 percent was single-use products. Single-use plastic reached the world's deepest ocean trench at 10,898m.
• Plastic bag found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench nearly 7 miles beneath the surface (Popular Mechanics)
• Federal appeals court halts construction of Atlantic Coast pipeline:
• Federal appeals court orders halt to work on Atlantic Coast Pipeline (Washington Post):
  
  A federal appeals court has nullified a key permit for Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline, finding that restrictions against harming wildlife are inadequate and halting some work on the controversial 600-mile natural gas project.
• Judges Rule Against Controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline Because Wildlife Matters (Earther)
• Federal appeals court nullifies key permit for Atlantic Coast Pipeline; construction could be halted (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• King Co. (Seattle) Washington files climate liability lawsuit against oil companies:
  • King County sues big oil companies for downplaying global warming (Seattle Times):
    
    King County is pressing for damages against the oil companies for the impacts of climate change. This is part of a broader wave of lawsuits alleging that fossil-fuel producers knew the risks of global warming, but discounted them.
  • Washington county files climate lawsuit to protect Pacific’s billion-dollar shellfish industry (Climate Progress):
    
    “Global warming is here and it is harming King County now as King County is already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate: warming temperatures, acidifying marine waters, rising seas, increasing flooding risk, decreasing mountain snowpack, and less water in the summer,” the complaint, filed in King County Superior Court, reads. “This egregious state of affairs is no accident. Rather, it is an unlawful public nuisance of the first order.”

'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

• We Made Plastic. We Depend on It. Now We’re Drowning in It. (National Geographic)
• NASA Scientists Map Human Changes In World’s Water (Desert Sun)
• Republican lawmaker says tumbling rocks are causing seas to rise (E&E News)
• ‘Impossible to Ignore’: Why Alaska Is Crafting a Plan to Fight Climate Change (NY Times)
• Sulfur Dioxide Damages Lungs, and Scott Pruitt Is Letting More of It in Our Air (Mother Jones)
• Trump mulls new global institution to promote fossil fuels (E&E News)
• Someone, somewhere, is making a banned chemical that destroys the ozone layer, scientists suspect (Washington Post)
• Ancient Rome’s Collapse Is Written Into Arctic Ice (The Atlantic)
• Paul Krugman explains why there’s no future for the coal industry (Climate Progress)
• U.S. Judge Blocks Oakland Port's Ban on Coal Shipments (Bloomberg)
• The Great Climate Hoax Is Putting Fish in the Wrong Places (Esquire)
• California will require solar panels on all new homes. That’s not necessarily a good thing. (Vox)
• The EPA’s new Office of Continuous Improvement ignores some important details (Climate Progress)
• Enormous Wildfires Are Spreading in Siberia (Earther)
• Investors Worth $2.5 Trillion Don’t Want Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Earther)
• Trump NHTSA Nominee Won’t Say Whether Humans Cause Climate Change (Washington Post)
• The world's bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
• Limiting global warming to 1.5C would have 'significant economic benefits (GreenBiz)
• 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: New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Environment, U.S. Senate, Washington State, Democrats, Green News, EPA, Natural gas, Oil, Climate change, Extreme weather, Exxon Mobil, Oceans/Sea Level Rise, Water, Seattle, Scott Pruitt, Tom Udall