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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Former oil and gas lobbyist set to be confirmed as Interior Dept. chief by U.S. Senate; Federal judge blocks Trump Administration's expansion of offshore drilling in the Arctic; White House tried unprecedented maneuver to jump start Keystone XL pipeline; PLUS: Dispatching myths and nonsense at the first-ever Green New Deal town hall... 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): Group tied to shadowy network created $93 trillion estimate of the Green New Deal; Burger King to test Meatless Whopper; EPA may thwart efforts by states to set stricter pesticide rules; Exxon suffers a big setback in climate-change case involving its MA oil terminal; Australia's plunging wind, solar, storage costs stun fossil fuel industry; China falling out of love with nuclear; NC orders Duke To dig up millions of tons of coal ash at 6 power plants; U.S. disaster aid won't cover crops drowned by Midwest floods... PLUS: Camp Lejeune is still a mess 6 months after Hurricane Florence. Where's the money for repairs?... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Alaska judge reinstates Obama-era ban on Arctic offshore drilling:
• Trump's Order to Open Arctic Waters to Oil Drilling Was Unlawful, Federal Judge Finds (NY Times):
  
  [A]lthough Friday's court decision relates specifically to a law on offshore drilling, it could also hamstring Mr. Trump's efforts to erase or reduce the creation of large protected areas of public lands by previous presidents.
• Federal judge declares Trump's push to open up Arctic and Atlantic oceans to oil and gas drilling illegal (Washington Post):
  
  In her Friday ruling, Gleason wrote that the law in which Congress gave the president authority over offshore drilling - the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act - expressly allows for leasing withdrawals but does not state that a subsequent president can revoke those withdrawals without congressional approval.
• Sen. Murkowski on Alaska federal judge's block of Trump offshore drilling decision (KTUU Anchorage)
• Judge says Trump can't re-open Arctic waters that Obama closed to drilling (Ars Technica)
• Earthjustice President Reacts to Judge's Ruling Striking Down Trump's Order to Undo Drilling Protections for Arctic, Atlantic (Earthjustice)
• White House tries maneuver to jump start Keystone XL pipeline:
• Trump signs permit for construction of controversial Keystone XL pipeline (Washington Post)
• Trump's 'Unprecedented' Plan to Restart the Keystone XL Pipeline May Be Illegal (Earther):
  
  The legality of the president's action-of backtracking, cancelling a previous permit, replacing it with a new one, and ignoring a court ruling-isn't immediately clear. That'll likely be something for the courts to figure out, said Daniel Rohlf, a law professor at the Lewis & Clark Law School. Then, there's the question of whether NEPA applies to such a presidential action. The president definitely doesn't think so, which is probably why he took this route.
• Trump Goes Around Court To Issue Permit For Keystone XL (Oil Price International)
• Will Trump's pipeline permit hold up in court? (E&E News):
  
  Keystone XL developer TransCanada Corp. sued in 2016, arguing that President Obama overstepped the limits of executive authority. The company dropped its challenge in April 2017. This time around, the company could be in the position of defending presidential power over cross-border projects.
• Former oil lobbyist set to be confirmed as Trump's Interior Dept. chief:
• VIDEO:Interior Secretary Confirmation Hearing (C-SPAN)
• Interior Secretary Nominee Gets Grilled On Ethics At Confirmation Hearing (NPR)
• Senators grilled Bernhardt on fossil fuel industry ties (Climate Progress):
  
  Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) pressed Bernhardt on whether he would extend his ethics recusal beyond the required time limit, set to expire soon, "since you've had so many of your clients [who are] going to be working directly with this agency?" Bernhardt said no. "I'm basically handcuffed if I am recusing myself," he said. "I don't really think that's the best strategy."
• Interior Nominee Intervened to Block Report on Endangered Species (NY Times):
  
  The documents provide a case study of how the Trump administration has been using its power to second-guess or push aside conclusions reached by career professionals, particularly in the area of public health and the environment. The decision to block the release of the report represented a victory for the pesticide industry, which has industry allies and former executives sprinkled through the administration.
• Swamp creatures silently protest at confirmation hearing of Trump Interior pick (Washington Post)
• C-SPAN's swamp creature unmasked! We talk to the activist in the confirmation meeting clip (Grist)
• Recording reveals oil industry execs laughing at Trump access (Reveal/Center for Investigative Reporting):
  
  The recording gives a rare look behind the curtain of an influential oil industry lobbying group that spends more than $1 million per year to push its agenda in Congress and federal regulatory agencies...[T]he oil executives were almost giddy at the prospect of high-level executive branch access of the sort they hadn’t enjoyed since Dick Cheney, a fellow oilman, was vice president.
• Dispatching myths and nonsense at 'Green New Deal' town hall:
• VIDEO: The Green New Deal With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (All In With Chris Hayes, MSNBC)
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shows us all: Here's how to fight Republican climate trolls (Salon)
• 'Coal is on the way out': study finds fossil fuel now pricier than solar or wind (Guardian UK)
• It's the Green News Report's 10th anniversary!
• Thank you for keeping the Green News Report alive on your public airwaves by supporting our work!

'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

• Group tied to shadowy network created $93 trillion estimate of the Green New Deal (ClimateWire)
• Everything is Possible: Burger King to Test Meatless Whopper (Climate Crocks)
• Army Corps sees no reason now to extend Pebble comment period (AP)
• EPA may thwart efforts by states to set stricter pesticide rules (Politico)
• Exxon suffers a big setback in climate-change case involving its Everett oil terminal (Boston Globe)
• Camp Lejeune is still a mess 6 months after Hurricane Florence. Where's the money for repairs? (NBC News)
• Australia's plunging wind, solar, storage costs stun fossil fuel industry (Renew Economy),
• 'Cause-play': swamp monsters and unicorns take on Congress (Guardian UK)
• China Falling out of Love with Nuclear (Climate Crocks)
• VIDEO: Puerto Ricans agree: Trump's response to Maria has been a failure (Washington Post)
• Shell Quits U.S. Refining Lobby Group Over Climate Policy Discord (Oil Price International)
• ABC, CBS, and NBC completely failed to mention climate change in coverage of major Midwest floods (Media Matters)
• NC Orders Duke To Dig Up Millions Of Tons Of Coal Ash At 6 Power Plants (Charlotte Observer)
• U.S. Disaster Aid Won't Cover Crops Drowned By Midwest Floods (Reuters)
• Radical transformation pathway towards sustainable electricity via evolutionary steps (Nature)
• Massive Disaster Relief Bill Stalls In Senate Over Puerto Rico Dispute (Washington Post)
• 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)
• 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.

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: MSNBC, Alaska, Environment, Barack Obama, Republicans, State Department, Green News, Donald Trump, Natural gas, Chris Hayes, Oil, Climate change, Ed Markey, Keystone XL, Oceans/Sea Level Rise, Arctic, Dept. of Interior, Public lands, Infrastructure, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, David Bernhardt, Green New Deal