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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Deadly swarm of tornadoes, from Texas to Delaware, leaves path of destruction; Interior Department Inspector General already investigating Trump's new Interior Secretary; Washington State sets ambitious 100 percent clean electricity target; PLUS: 2020 Democratic presidential candidates roll out bold policies to expand renewable energy and combat climate change... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Bank of England lays bare the “very real” trillion-dollar risks of climate change; Microplastics are raining down from the sky; Cool U.S. cities prepare as future 'havens' for climate migrants; 'We're not a dump' – poor Alabama towns struggle under the stench of toxic landfills; Vermont’s largest utility wants 100% renewable power by 2030; How to restore a million acres of strip-mined land? Bring in the elk; Gas-guzzling SUVs become election battleground in Australia... PLUS: Climate change could destroy his home in Peru. So he sued an energy company in Germany... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Deadly weekend swarm of tornadoes leaves path of destruction from Texas to Delaware:
• Weekend Severe Weather Outbreak Leaves [Nine] Dead, Dozens Injured (Weather Underground)
• 2 young brothers among 9 killed in destructive tornado outbreak across southern, mid-Atlantic US (AccuWeather):
  
  There have been 41 tornadoes confirmed and surveyed by the National Weather Service, including 3 EF3, 10 EF2, 16 EF1, and 12 EF0 tornadoes in eight states from Texas to Pennsylvania.
• VIDEO: Texas tornado: 'It looked like a bomb had gone off' (BBC)
• USA's infamous 'Tornado Alley' may be shifting east (USA Today):
  
  Over the past four decades, researchers in a new study found that tornadoes have increased over a large swath of the Midwest and Southeast, including what has been referred to as "Dixie Alley." At the same time, they've decreased in the central and southern Plains, the region traditionally known as Tornado Alley that includes large parts of Oklahoma and Texas.
• VIDEO: "We will recover": Texas community hit by tornadoes looks to rebuild (CBS News)
• Interior Dept. Inspector General already investigating Trump's new Interior Secretary:
• Interior Dept. Opens Ethics Investigation of Its New Chief, David Bernhardt (NY Times):
  
  Among the chief complaints have been allegations, revealed by three separate New York Times investigations, that Mr. Bernhardt used his position to advance a policy pushed by his former lobbying client; that he continued working as a lobbyist after filing legal paperwork declaring that he had ceased lobbying; and that he intervened to block the release of a scientific report showing the harmful effects of a chemical pesticide on certain endangered species.
• Interior IG opens investigation into Secretary David Bernhardt four days after confirmation (CNN):
  
  CNN investigations found that Bernhardt made at least 15 policy decisions that were favorable towards his former clients since joining the department as deputy secretary in 2017. A CNN report also found that the Interior Department had approved 267 onshore drilling permits during the 35-day government shutdown.
• Senate confirms former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt as interior secretary (Washington Post)
• The David Bernhardt Scandal Tracker (Outside Online)
• A brief guide to David Bernhardt, Ryan Zinke’s replacement at the Interior Department (Vox)
• Federal judge blocks Trump Administration rollback of Valuation Rule:
• Federal court dismisses Trump administration's repeal of coal, oil valuation rule (Reuters):
  
  The valuation rule was proposed by former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in 2016 to close a loophole that enabled companies to dodge royalty payments when mining on taxpayer-owned public land. It required energy companies to pay royalties on sales to the first unaffiliated customer, known as an arm’s-length sale, as the fuel moves to market.
• AG Becerra Prevails in Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration’s Repeal of Valuation Rule (press release, CA AG Xavier Becerra)
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren rolls out broad public lands policy:
• My plan for public lands (Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Medium):
  
  We must not allow corporations to pillage our public lands and leave taxpayers to clean up the mess...I will recruit 10,000 young people and veterans to jumpstart a 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps — and increase the budget of AmeriCorps’ one-year fellowship program to fund it.
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she’d ban new fossil fuel production on federal lands as president (CNBC):
  
  Warren said her administration would set a goal of producing 10 percent of the nation’s electric power from wind towers, solar farms, and other clean energy projects constructed offshore or on public lands.
• Elizabeth Warren Proposes Broad Plan to Protect Public Lands (NY Times):
  
  The land-use plan is the latest in a series of proposals from Ms. Warren, who has tried to stand out in a wide-open Democratic field by matching her rhetoric of structural change with detailed policy platforms...“America’s public lands belong to all of us,” she wrote. “We should start acting like it.”
• Washington State sets new 100 percent clean electricity target:
• Washington State Commits to Running Entirely on Clean Energy by 2045 (Earther):
  
  The bill shuts the door on coal, saying it “is the policy of the state to eliminate coal-fired electricity.” By calling for energy to come from carbon-free sources by 2045, it leaves the door open for nuclear power. But with plentiful hydropower resources—the state already gets around three-quarters of its electricity from hydro—and a booming renewable energy industry, the state will likely look to those resources more than costly nuclear plants to meet its commitment.
• Washington 100% clean energy bill gets one step closer to Inslee's desk (Utility Dive):
  
  Washington is calling for 100% clean energy at a time when it is already 75% of the way there. The majority of the state's energy portfolio — 67.68% — comes from hydropower, while coal and natural gas make up about 24%.
• VIDEO: Full Inslee: 'People Are Coming To Realize The Urgency' Of Climate Change (Meet The Press, NBC)
• VIDEO: Jay Inslee, CNN Town Hall: I will make climate change No. 1 priority (CNN)

'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 Bank of England lays bare the “very real” trillion-dollar risks of climate change (Quartz)
• Microplastics are raining down from the sky (National Geographic)
• Climate change could destroy his home in Peru. So he sued an energy company in Germany. (New York Magazine)
• Cool U.S. cities prepare as future 'havens' for climate migrants (Reuters)
• 'We're not a dump' – poor Alabama towns struggle under the stench of toxic landfills (Guardian UK)
• Vermont’s largest utility wants 100% renewable power by 2030 (AP)
• How to Restore a Million Acres of Strip-Mined Land? Bring in the Elk (Yes! Magazine)
• Gas-Guzzling SUVs Become Election Battleground in Australia (Bloomberg)
• Supreme Court won't hear nuke subsidy cases, clarifying state energy jurisdiction (Utility Dive)
• Out-of-state coal interests are funding a battle to keep Indiana coal plants from closing (Indianapolis Star)
• The uphill road: battery limitations to test China's electric vehicle ambitions (Reuters)
• In Illinois, the risk of coal ash contamination rises with floodwaters (Energy News Network)
• Snow-powered nanogenerator works where solar panels don't (New Atlas)
• This Is How Human Extinction Could Play Out (Rolling Stone)
• 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: Environment, Washington State, Democrats, Green News, Donald Trump, Elizabeth Warren, Natural gas, Coal, Oil, Wind energy, Solar energy, Climate change, Extreme weather, Water, Mining, Dept. of Interior, Ryan Zinke, Jay Inslee, David Bernhardt