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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Florence continues to wreak havoc and death on the East Coast; The strongest storm of the year (so far) slams into the Philippines and Hong Kong; PLUS: Boston-area residents slowly return home after natural gas explosions destroy dozens of homes... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The Unequal Burden of Climate Change: Hurricane Florence and Super Typhoon Mangkhut laid bare the disproportionate consequences for poor communities; 5 things that must change after Hurricane Florence; 100% renewable energy is wildly popular. Utilities are struggling to deal with it; EPA administrator denies states' request to stop cross-state coal plant pollution; 8 ways that EPA's helping the coal industry; Watchdog: EPA asbestos protection for schoolchildren lagging; Feds allow construction of Atlantic Coast Pipeline to resume; Oldest nuclear plant in US closes, unable to compete... PLUS: Germany launches world's first hydrogen-powered train... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Florence continues to wreak havoc and death on the East Coast:
• Florence flooding threat still real: 'Do not try to return home yet,' North Carolina governor pleads (ABC News)
• Florence's Devastation: More Evacuations as Rivers Reach Major Flood Stages; Death Toll Rises (Weather Channel):
  
  Hurricane Florence, now a post-tropical cyclone, began its second week of impacts Monday with much of the same - flooding that cut off entire towns, water rescues in parts of the Carolinas that have been inundated, and more death.
• Florence death toll rises to 32 as flooding continues (BBC)
• Rains From Florence Cause Collapse at NC Coal Ash Landfill (AP)
• More headaches as Florence's waters overtake toxic pits and hog lagoons (Washington Post)
• Hurricane Florence breaches manure lagoon, coal ash pit in North Carolina (PBS NewsHour)
• Pollution fears: Swollen rivers swamp ash dumps, hog farms (AP):
  
  The utility later agreed to plead guilty to nine Clean Water Act violations and pay $102 million in fines and restitution for illegally discharging pollution from ash dumps at five North Carolina power plants. It plans to close all its ash dumps by 2029.
• Duke's Brunswick nuclear plant declares low-level emergency as floodwaters block access (Utility Dive):
  
  Brunswick's low-level emergency declaration on Monday is a reminder of the risks of siting nuclear generation close to ocean coasts.
• Rivers Keep Rising and More Deaths Are Feared as Florence Pushes Away (NY Times)
• Florence aftermath: Rivers are rising in the Carolinas, cresting at record levels (Washington Post)
• Florence Flooding Puts Dams, Many High Hazard, To The Test (AP)
• Florence's climate change connection:
• A warmer world makes hurricanes wetter and more intense (AP)
• Hurricane Florence Is a Warning of What's to Come (Rolling Stone):
  
  As another catastrophic hurricane bears down on the U.S., President Trump continues to stifle any plan that could slow down climate change.
• Category 6? Climate Change May Cause More Hurricanes To Rapidly Intensify (Washington Post)
• Florence is not the 'new normal'. We've destroyed normal forever. (Climate Progress):
  
  If each new decade brings its own unique, ever-worsening climate disasters, there won't be any new norms for a long, long time.
• Global warming 'double whammy' may be steering Florence into the Carolinas, says researcher (Climate Progress)
• 2 historic storms offer 2 wildly opposing outlooks on climate change (Climate Progress):
  
  Warming waters are supercharging storms, but the White House is looking the other way.
• Climate change wrought this freak of nature (Eric Holthaus, op-ed, Washington Post)
• Strongest storm of the year (so far) hammers Philippines, China:
• Philippines typhoon: Families line up to identify landslide dead (CNN)
• VIDEO: Hope fades in Philippines for dozens buried in landslides after Typhoon Manghut (9 News Australia)
• VIDEO: Typhoon Mangkhut: Philippines assessing super storm's impact (Al Jazeera English)
• Typhoon Mangkhut Slams Hong Kong and Southern China (NY Times)
• China evacuates millions after Typhoon Mangkhut leaves Hong Kong in tatters (CNN)
• These Videos of a 'Super Typhoon' Ravaging Hong Kong Are a Signal of the Horrors to Come (Esquire)
• evacuations
• How the Philippines learned from disaster (Washington Post)
• What Typhoon Mangkhut taught us: the value of being prepared and regional cooperation (South China Morning Post)
• Boston Explosions: Residents begin returning home as investigation continues:
• VIDEO: NTSB: Pressure sensors focus of gas explosions probe (AP)
• Massachusetts Homes Safe to Return to After Gas Explosions, Governor Says (NY times)
• Residents Allowed To Return To Their Homes After Gas Explosions North Of Boston (NPR)
• Massachusetts explosions: Owner of Columbia Gas linked to three prior gas line blasts (USA Today)
• After the fires, who will pay for damage? (Op-ed, Boston Globe)
• VIDEO: NTSB Update On Merrimack Valley Explosions (CBS Boston)
• Columbia commits to replace exploded pipeline system (Kallanish Energy)
• Massachusetts governor puts rival utility in charge of Columbia Gas disaster response (Utility Dive):
  
  Gov. Charlie Baker, R-Mass., on Friday put Eversource Energy in charge of recovery from a series of gas explosions in northern Massachusetts caused by the system of one of its rivals, Columbia Gas.
• Watch closely to see if Columbia Gas tries to charge MA Ratepayers $1.9M x 48 Miles of new pipe (Nathan Phillips, tweet thread)
• Massachusetts gas explosions shine spotlight on century-old pipelines (Reuters):
  
  The investigation could provide insight into the nation's aging pipeline infrastructure. Roughly half of the 2.4 million miles of pipelines crisscrossing the United States were installed before 1970...

'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

• The Unequal Burden of Climate Change: Hurricane Florence and Super Typhoon Mangkhut laid bare the disproportionate consequences for poor communities. (The New Republic)
• Five Things That Must Change After Hurricane Florence (Forbes)
• 100 percent renewable energy is wildly popular. Utilities are struggling to deal with it. (Vox)
• Wheeler Denies States' Request To Stop Cross-State Coal Plant Pollution (Inside Climate News)
• Trump's tariffs will make recovery from Hurricane Florence more expensive (McClatchy)
• 8 ways that EPA's helping the coal industry (E&E News)
• Green Plains to shut down two Iowa ethanol plants (Reuters)
• Watchdog: EPA Asbestos Protection For Schoolchildren Lagging (AP)
• Insurance Bill From Florence Could Pinch Wallets Far From North Carolina (Pro Publica)
• Feds Allow Atlantic Coast Pipeline Construction To Resume (AP)
• Long Held As Oldest in US, New Jersey Nuclear Plant Closes (A)
• Germany Launches World's First Hydrogen-Powered Train (Guardian UK)
• A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
• An Optimist's Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)
• The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention. (Politico)
• 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)
• 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: North Carolina, Massachusetts, Environment, South Carolina, Green News, Natural gas, Coal, Climate change, Extreme weather, Transportation, Hurricane Florence