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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump misleads again on U.S. energy in his State of the Union address; Democrats focus on rebuilding the country in their response; Congratulations! You just lived through the hottest January on record!; PLUS: Britain accelerates its ban on gasoline cars... 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): New conservative climate plans are neither conservative nor climate plans.They are mainly designed to protect fossil fuels; Benzene emissions of ten refineries exceed EPA limits; U.S. House Democrats propose nationwide EV charging network; Canadian court clears the way for Trans-Mountain pipeline expansion; Japan races to build new coal plants, despite climate; VA lawmakers vote to ban offshore drilling... PLUS: A remedy for toxic algal blooms? Scientist thinks he's found one... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Trump misleads again on U.S. energy in his State of the Union address:
• VIDEO and Full Transcript: Trump’s 2020 State of the Union Address (NY Times)
• Fact-checking President Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address (Washington Post) [emphasis added]:
  
  With the tremendous progress we have made over the past three years, America is now energy independent.” This is false. The United States continues to import energy.
• The Energy 202: Trump pumped up claims about oil and gas during State of the Union (Washington Post)
• No, President Trump, the U.S. isn’t energy-independent. Middle East oil still matters. (Washington Post):
  
  U.S. consumers (and Trump) may yet discover that while the shale revolution has strengthened the United States’ position economically and geopolitically, the nation is far from energy-independent...The oil market is still global, which means the price Americans pay for fuel is still set by global oil prices and is vulnerable to supply disruptions, wherever they occur.
• Transcript and Live Commentary: Trump's 2020 State of the Union address (Politico)
• Air Pollution Is Increasing for the First Time in a Decade Under Trump (Earther)
• ‘Energy independence’ is a farce (Reuters, 10/19/2012)
• The Energy 202: Trump just pledged to help plant more trees. But in Alaska’s Tongass, his focus is on cutting them. (Washington Post)
• Pres. Obama's gamble on fracking killed coal, but increased U.S. emissions:
• Is Natural Gas Really Helping the U.S. Cut Emissions? [No.] (Inside Climate News):
  
  While there's uncertainty about how much methane is leaking, several studies show that the benefits of the switch from coal to gas over the last decade are smaller than government data suggests, perhaps substantially smaller.
• Democratic SOTU response focuses on rebuilding infrastructure:
• VIDEO: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer response to Donald Trump's Speech (Rev.com):
  
  All across the country, Democratic leaders are rebuilding bridges, fixing roads, expanding broadband and cleaning up drinking water. Everyone in this country benefits when we invest in infrastructure. Congressional Democrats have presented proposals to keep us moving forward, but President Trump and the Republicans in the Senate are blocking the path.
• Michigan governor puts focus on infrastructure in Democratic response (The Hill)
• Democrats use State of the Union rebuttal to pivot from impeachment (Washington Post)
• U.S. House Democrats call for $760 billion in infrastructure spending over five years (Reuters)
• January 2020 was the hottest January ever recorded:
• January 2020 hottest on record, EU climate monitoring system says (UPI)
• January 2020 becomes Earth’s warmest January on record (WQAD)
• ‘The warmth is really unheard of’: Europe just posted its warmest January on record (Washington Post):
  
  “The lack of snow and the warmth is really unheard of,” wrote Mika Rantanen, a research meteorologist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, in a Twitter direct message. “Monthly records were not just broken, they were shattered with large margins.”
• Britain accelerates its ban on new internal combustion engine cars:
• Petrol and diesel car sales ban brought forward to 2035 (BBC)
• Four things the UK government must do to phase out petrol, diesel and hybrid cars by 2035 (The Conversation)
• The UK just gave the car industry 15 years to ditch fossil fuels (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

• New conservative climate plans are neither conservative nor climate plans.They are mainly designed to protect fossil fuels. (Vox)
• Benzene Emissions on the Perimeters of Ten Refineries Exceed EPA Limits (Inside Climate News)
• U.S. House Democrats want to create nationwide EV charging network (Reuters)
• Japan Races to Build New Coal-Burning Power Plants, Despite Climate (NY Times)
• Canadian Court Clears The Way For Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (NPR)
• Climate Change Is Shrinking Winter Snow In The South, Report Shows (Washington Post)
• A Remedy For Harmful Algal Blooms? Scientist Thinks He's Found One (Daily Climate)
• Virginia Lawmakers Vote To Block Offshore Drilling In Rebuke To Trump (Reuters)
• Yellow Cedar Is Dying. Can Southeast Alaska Sawmills Profit? (Alaska Public Radio),/li>
  

• Trump’s Regional EPA Chief In Calif. Is Suddenly Removed From His Job (LA Times)
• What Does '12 Years to Act on Climate Change' (Now 11 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• 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, Democrats, Green News, EPA, Fracking, Donald Trump, Natural gas, Coal, Oil, Climate change, U.K., Water, Electric vehicles, Denmark, Infrastructure, Helsinki, Gretchen Whitmer, Pollution, Boris Johnson