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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Florence floodwaters pose a toxic public health threat; North Carolina begins facing the long road of recovery; PLUS: Trump Interior Department formally rolls back still more methane regulations... 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): 5 Trump policies that will make future flooding worse; Why America should rethink how it talks about-and ranks-tropical storms; Jerry Brown: Trump's 'gross ignorance' main obstacle in climate change fight; Air pollution harms unborn babies. Now we might know why; Mosquitoes are eating plastic. Why that's a big problem; Trump administration levies new tariffs on Chinese solar inverters; The rush for better batteries; Clean energy weathers Hurricane Florence; 57 Detroit schools have lead, copper contamination in drinking water; What would it take to make recycling a national issue?; 'Treating Protest As Terrorism': US plans crackdown on KXL activists... PLUS: How we define a calamity determines how we plan for and respond to them. Or not.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• VIDEO: Trump on Hurricane Florence: "One of the wettest we've ever seen, from the standpoint of water" (McClatchy DC)
• Florence's long public health disaster will last months:
• 2 detainees drown in sheriff's van amid flooding, brings Florence death toll to 37 (USA Today)
• The health dangers don’t stop with a hurricane’s churning. They can get worse. (Washington Post)
• Storm-ravaged Carolinas brace for even more Florence flooding (CNN)
• VIDEO: President Trump Briefing on Hurricane Florence (C-SPAN)
• Trump vows 'there will be nothing left undone' in Florence recovery (NBC)
• Hurricane Florence Is a Public Health Emergency, Too (The New Republic):
  
  With its hog manure pits, coal waste ponds, and toxic Superfund sites, North Carolina is among the worst places a major cyclone could hit.
• More hog lagoons overflowing; 300,000 gallons of raw sewage spills in Johnston County (Charlotte News-Observer)
• Trump to Hurricane Florence victim: 'At least you got a nice boat out of the deal' (Climate Progress)
• Florence gone but its flooding a crisis in parts of North Carolina --- live updates (CBS News)
• North Carolina faces long, costly road to recovery:
• North Carolina governor calls for sweeping, inclusive rebuilding process after Florence (Climate Progress)
• VIDEO: Florence's Floodwaters Cause North Carolina Dam to Fail (Weather Channel)
• VIDEO: North Carolina governor updates on Florence response (Washington Post)
• Hurricane Florence's next challenge: Dealing with insurers (CBS News)
• Pollution fears: Swollen rivers swamp ash dumps, hog farms (AP)
• Florence Flooding Puts Dams, Many High Hazard, To The Test (AP)
• ‘We need help’: N.C. towns plead for dam, levee upgrades after second major flood in two years (Washington Post)
• FEMA: Evidence of fraud in Hurricane Sandy reports (CBS 60 Minutes, 2/27/2015)
• Florence costs mount, disproportionately impacting low-income families:
• The Unequal Burden of Climate Change (The New Republic):
  
  Hurricane Florence and Super Typhoon Mangkhut laid bare the disproportionate consequences for poor communities.
• As Florence's flooding ebbs, Carolina residents choose fight or flight (Grist)
• Stranded in a squalid tower with flooded floors and no help (E&E News):
  
  As the Carolinas catch its breath after Florence, people like Williams are stepping into the sunlight to find that they can't leave the storm behind. The disaster stands to have a legacy of massive health and housing problems. The poor have been hit hard, and pre-existing inequalities in a region with acute poverty will almost certainly grow wider.
• VIDEO: Hurricane Florence damage estimated at $17 billion to $22 billion and could go higher - Moody's Analytics (CNBC)
• Florence's Death Toll Includes Millions of Animals (Bloomberg):
  
  Speed is key. As livestock carcasses degrade, they release fluids, gases and a slew of toxic chemical, biological and radiological compounds, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said. If left untouched, the carcasses can leach into drinking water, and draw flies and rats who can spread pathogens to humans and other livestock.
• Trump's tariffs will make recovery from Hurricane Florence more expensive (McClatchy)
• Insurance Bill From Florence Could Pinch Wallets Far From North Carolina (Pro Publica)
• Chart: The Economic Cost of Mother Nature's Destructive Fury in U.S. (How Much.net)
• Trump Interior Dept. moves to rollback methane regulations:
• Trump Administration Formally Rolls Back Rule Aimed at Limiting Methane Pollution (NY times):
  
  The Trump administration on Tuesday effectively reversed a regulation designed to prevent methane, one of the most powerful greenhouse gases, from escaping into the atmosphere during oil and gas operations.
• Trump Targets Obama's Methane Rules in Latest Climate Policy Rollbacks (Inside Climate News):
  
  Within hours of the rule change being finalized, the attorneys general of California and New Mexico filed a lawsuit challenging the move. "Repealing a rule that is working is just another giveaway to an industry that doesn't need it," California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols said. "It's an attack on public health and continues the administration's dereliction of duty to protect air quality, taxpayer dollars and the environment."
• 6 Important Points About BLM's Revised Methane Waste Prevention Rule (Climate Law Blog, Columbia Univ. Law School):
  
  the changes to BLM's 2016 Rule will increase the amount of natural gas lost through venting, flaring, and leaks. BLM itself recognized this, estimating that its rule change will result in the loss of up to $737 million worth of natural gas, over the 10 years from 2019 to 2028 (applying a 3 percent discount rate). This will result in increased emissions of methane...
• EPA admits scrapping regulations will put more methane into atmosphere (Guardian UK):
  
  As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally released its proposed substitute for a 2016 Obama administration rule that aimed to step up detection and elimination of methane leaks at well sites and other oil and gas facilities, it conceded the move "may … degrade air quality and adversely affect health and welfare".

'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

• What Trump Doesn't Get About Disasters: How we define a calamity determines how we plan for and respond to them. Or not. (Scott Knowles, op-ed, NY Times)
• 5 Trump policies that will make future flooding worse (Politico)
• Hurricane Florence Is a Category 5 Disaster: Why America should rethink how it talks about-and ranks-tropical storms (The New Republic)
• Jerry Brown: Trump's 'gross ignorance' main obstacle in climate change fight (Guardian UK)
• Air pollution harms unborn babies. Now we might know why. (Grist)
• Mosquitoes are eating plastic. Why that's a big problem. (USA Today)
• Trump administration levies new tariffs on Chinese solar inverters (Utility Dive)
• VIDEO: The Rush for Better Batteries (Climate Crocks)
• Clean Energy Players Weather Through Florence (Green Tech Media)
• 57 Detroit Schools Have Lead, Copper Contamination In Drinking Water (MLive)
• What would it take to make recycling a national issue? (Waste Dive)
• Lawmakers, Coalition Fight To Block Sale Of Plum Island (AP)
• US Agrees To Improve Worker Safety At Polluted Nuclear Site (AP)
• EPA Looks To Rescind HFC Leak Controls (Cooling Post)
• 'Treating Protest As Terrorism': US Plans Crackdown on KXL Activists (Guaridan UK)
• More methane: Interior eases rules curbing leaks from oil and gas leases on federal land (Washington Post)
• 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: California, New Mexico, Environment, FEMA, Green News, EPA, Donald Trump, Coal, Oil, Climate change, Extreme weather, Agriculture, Water, Dept. of Interior, Public lands, Infrastructure, Hurricane Florence