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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: EPA’s ‘action plan’ on toxic chemicals in drinking water? Take action…later; Australian court blocks coal mine on climate change grounds; January was the third hottest January ever recorded; BP predicts renewable energy will be world’s main source of power within 20 years; PLUS: Trump Administration wants California’s high-speed rail funding back… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
2/21/2019
‘Green News Report’ – February 21, 2019 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – February 21, 2019 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The Green New Deal: a centuries-old idea could revolutionize climate policy; >’Moment of reckoning’: US cities burn recyclables after China bans imports; How EPA Wehrum’s former law firm profited from the fight to roll back air rules; Polar Vortex showed how much renewable energy storage may be needed; Is the ‘insect apocalypse’ really upon us?; MI Gov. Whitmer’s new environmental order leaves ‘polluter panels’ in place”” for now; Supreme Court Clean Water Act case could have big impact on coal ash disposal… PLUS: Video: ‘We are entering into an unprecedented climate’, say authors David Wallace-Wells and Dr. Michael Mann… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- January 2019 was 3rd hottest January ever recorded globally:
- Assessing the Global Climate in January 2019 (NOAA):
January 2019 was third warmest on record for the globe.
- The results are in, and January was one of the warmest in all of recorded history (Grist):
So here’s the strange truth: Last month may have felt cold where you live, but your senses were deceiving you. We’ve forgotten what “normal” weather feels like, so global warming is gaslighting us.
- ‘Unprecedented’: Australia Just Recorded Its Hottest Month on Record in January (The Weather Channel)
- Critics blast Trump EPA for slowing action on PFAS chemicals in drinking water:
- E.P.A. Will Study Limits on Cancer-Linked Chemicals. Critics Say the Plan Delays Action. (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said it will start work by the end of the year on a long-awaited plan to set national drinking-water limits for two harmful chemicals linked to cancer, low infant birth weight and other health issues…The American Chemistry Council, an industry lobbying group, voiced support for the plan…Mr. Wheeler did not offer a clear timeline of when such a standard might be completed. Such regulatory processes can often take years.
- EPA blasted for failing to set drinking water limits for ‘forever chemicals’ (Science):
In May 2018, EPA said it would develop a plan to tackle the substances in drinking water. Many were hoping the agency would set national regulatory limits on PFAS concentrations in water supplies. But the plan released today puts little meat on the bones of last year’s promises.
- EPA Says It Plans To Limit Toxic PFAS Chemicals, But Not Soon Enough For Critics (NPR):
“It took groundbreaking efforts to develop this plan,” said EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler at a news conference in Philadelphia. “This is the first time we have utilized all of our program offices to deal with an emerging chemical of concern.”… “It has taken the EPA nearly a year just to kick the can even further down the road,” said U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.)
- VIDEO: Schumer says EPA needs to act quickly on PFAS regulations (Fox News-Albany):
“They have agreed to set and MCL, a maximum contamination level,” explained Senator Schumer. “What they haven’t told us is two things– how long it will take, and will the level be stringent enough so it really protects people?”
- EPA Scientists: The Toxic Chemicals Our Agency Won’t Regulate Are Definitely in Our Drinking Water (Mother Jones)
- Air Force refuses to follow Michigan PFAS law (MLive)
- Former Koch official runs EPA chemical research (Politico)
- What is PFAS, and what does it mean for your family?:
- INTERACTIVE MAP: Toxic Fluorinated Chemicals in Tap Water and at Industrial or Military Sites (Northeastern University, Environmental Working Group)
- How to protect yourself from PFAS contamination (MLive)
- PFAS in Drinking Water: Hazardous at Ever-Lower Levels (Environmental Working Group)
- The elephant in the room: potential biopersistence of short-chain PFAS (Environmental Defense Fund)
- ‘This has poisoned everything’ – pollution casts shadow over New Mexico’s booming dairy industry (Searchlight New Mexico):
“This has poisoned everything I’ve worked for and everything I care about,” Schaap said. “I can’t sell the milk. I can’t sell beef. I can’t sell the cows. I can’t sell crops or my property. The air force knew they had contamination. What I really wonder is, why didn’t they say something?”
- PFAS meeting offers few answers, immediate solutions, residents say (MLive)
- Trump DOT cancels grant for California high-speed rail project:
- Trump Wants California to Pay Back $2.5 Billion for High-Speed Rail (NY Times):
[O]n Tuesday morning, the president explicitly tied the rail line to efforts to stymie construction of the Mexican border wall.
- Trump Administration threatens to reclaim $929 million in California’s high speed rail funds (San Jose Mercury News):
The letter – which threatened to explore “all available legal options” for cancelling another $2.5 billion in federal funds – came just 24 hours after California led 16 states in challenging Trump’s declaration that the country is facing a national emergency necessitating a border wall with Mexico.
- Newsom claims ‘retribution’ after Trump administration demands high-speed rail funds back (Sacramento Bee)
- VIDEO: Garcetti: California should ‘absolutely not’ pay back funds for high-speed rail (MSNBC)
- Trump seeks to recoup ‘wasted’ California high-speed rail funds (BBC)
- Australian court rejects NSW coal mine on global warming grounds:
- Landmark Australian ruling rejects coal mine over global warming (Nature):
The case is the first time a mine has been refused in the country because of climate change.
- Australian Judge Rejects Coal Mine on Climate Grounds (Climate Liability News)
- Australia can meet Paris targets if government doesn’t hinder progress, report claims (Guardian UK)
- BP’s annual energy report foresees accelerating renewable energy takeover:
- Renewable energy will be world’s main power source by 2040, says BP (Guardian UK):
Renewable energy sources will be the world’s main source of power within two decades and are establishing a foothold in the global energy system faster than any fuel in history, according to BP.
- BP’s vision of the near future sees renewable power and natural gas dominating energy (CNBC):
In a not-too-distant future, renewable energy becomes the world’s biggest source of power generation. A quarter of the distances that humans travel by vehicle will be in electric cars. U.S. dominance in the oil market begins to wane, and OPEC’s influence is resurgent, as crude demand finally peaks.
- It’s the Green News Report’s 10th anniversary!
- VIDEO: ‘We are entering into an unprecedented climate’ — Authors David Wallace-Wells and Michael Mann join Morning Joe discuss the realities of climate change (MSNBC)
- The Green New Deal: A Centuries-Old Idea Could Revolutionize Climate Policy (The Atlantic)
- ‘Moment of reckoning’: US cities burn recyclables after China bans imports (Guardian UK)
- How EPA Wehrum’s Law Firm Profited From The Fight To Roll Back Air Rules (Politico)
- 100% Renewable Energy Needs Lots of Storage. This Polar Vortex Test Showed How Much. (Inside Climate News)
- Environmental Groups Sue EPA In Bid To Ban Toxic Paint Strippers (The Hill)
- Is the Insect Apocalypse Really Upon Us? (The Atlantic)
- MI Gov. Whitmer’s new environmental order leaves ‘polluter panels’ in place”” for now (Detroit Free Press)
- Supreme Court Clean Water Act case could have big impact on coal ash disposal (Utility Dive)
- Amy Klobuchar Calls Climate Change A ‘Day One’ Priority In Town Hall (Huffington Post)
- Jay Inslee, potential 2020 contender, on climate: ‘We need to blow the bugle’ (Guardian UK)
- White House plans panel to assess if climate change poses national security threat (Washington Post)
- Arctic bogs hold another global warming risk that could spiral out of control: earlier spring rains (Inside Climate News)
- Germany: New 100MW power-to-gas project planned, capable of converting renewable energy output into hydrogen. (Wind Power Monthly)
- Native American farmers are growing a sustainable market, poised to scale up centuries-old sustainable practices to tap into global trade (Civil Eats)
- House report lays bare White House feud over Saudi nuclear push (Politico)
- How to cut U.S. emissions faster? Do what these countries are doing (NY Times)
- Keystone XL suffers another setback as judge blocks most work on the oil pipeline (CNBC)
- Time to Panic: The planet is getting warmer in catastrophic ways. And fear may be the only thing that saves us. (David Wallace-Wells op-ed, NY Times)
- SEJ Backgrounder: Green New Deal Proposes Sweeping Economic Transformation (Society of Environmental Journalists)
- Explainer: The ‘Green New Deal’: Mobilizing for a just, prosperous, and sustainable economy (New Consensus)
- Fourth National Climate Assessment, Vol. 2: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States [PDF] (U.S. Global Change Research Program)
- What genuine, no-bullshit ambition on climate change would look like: How to hit the most stringent targets, with no loopholes. (David Roberts, Vox)
- 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.
- NASA Video: If we don’t act, here’s what to expect in the next 100 years:
‘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
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
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