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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: President Biden responds to Republican attacks on his infrastructure jobs plan; New analysis warns of looming wave of abandoned oil and gas well; Treasury to leverage private spending to decarbonize economy; PLUS: GM goes all in on all-electric future... 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): Don't watch Netflix's 'Seaspiracy'; Sea level rise is killing trees on the Atlantic Coast, creating 'ghost forests' visible from space; NOAA scientists alarmed at surging atmospheric CO2, methane; Wyoming bills to slow coal plant closures, including suing other states for moving away from coal; Even the Great Lakes' deepest waters are now warming; PG&E faces criminal charges for 2019 CA fires; Florida crisis highlights nationwide risk from toxic waste ponds; Climate deniers regulating Texas oil and gas have avoided blackout scrutiny... PLUS: In the Heartland: Clean energy has to make its case... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• President Biden responds to GOP attacks on his infrastructure jobs plan:
• VIDEO, transcript: President Joe Biden Speech on Infrastructure, American Jobs (Rev.com)
• Biden says he's willing to compromise on his infrastructure plan, but will not tolerate 'doing nothing.' (NY Times):
  
  "To automatically say that the only thing that's infrastructure is a highway, bridge, or whatever, that's just not rational," said Mr. Biden, who urged Republicans to ask working-class Americans "what infrastructure they need to build a better life, to be able to breathe a little bit," rather than rejecting his proposal on sight.
• Biden says he's open to compromise with Republicans on $2 trillion infrastructure plan (Washington Post):
  
  "Damnit, Maybe it's because I come from a middle-class neighborhood, but I'm sick and tired of ordinary people being fleeced," he said...In a 19-page report, Treasury officials called for more than a half-dozen tax measures affecting U.S. firms, including an increase in the corporate tax rate and subjecting the overseas earnings of businesses to higher tax rates.
• Biden Pitches Infrastructure Plan as Vital to Keep Up With China (Bloomberg)
• For Republicans, Pipes Are Infrastructure Only If They Carry Oil (Huffington Post)
• Inside Republicans' battle plan on infrastructure (Axios):
  
  Republicans' criticism of President Biden's infrastructure package isn't just about its cost, but also the definition of "infrastructure."
• US Treasury to leverage federal goverment to push private climate investment:
• Yellen Backs Aligning U.S. Portfolios With Climate Goals (Bloomberg, no paywall):
  
  Yellen said the Biden administration would "encourage financial institutions to credibly align their portfolios and strategies with the objectives of the Paris Agreement," the international accord to which the Biden administration recently recommitted the U.S. The Treasury will also seek to align tax policy with climate goals, "including a transition to a decarbonized economy."
• Government can leverage private spending to fight climate change, says Yellen (MarketWatch)
• Transcript: Remarks by Secretary Janet Yellen, World Bank President David Malpass, and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Conversation at the 2021 Spring Meetings, "Economic Recovery: Toward a Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Future" (US Treasury Department)
• VIDEO: Economic Recovery: Full Conversation with David Malpass, Kristalina Georgieva, and Janet Yellen (World Bank)
• Janet Yellen: Climate change poses 'existential threat' to financial markets (Politico)
• Yellen pushes minimum corporate taxes, ending fossil fuel breaks, to pay for infrastructure (Reuters):
  
  Yellen's plan relies on negotiating a 21 percent global minimum corporate tax rate with major economies and a separate 15 percent minimum tax on 'booked' income aimed at the largest U.S. corporations. Dozens of big U.S. companies have used complex tax strategies to reduce their federal tax liabilities to zero..."Our tax revenues are already at their lowest level in a generation. And as they continue to drop lower we will have less money to invest in roads, bridges, broadband and R&D," Yellen said.
• U.S. Treasury's Yellen vows to work with international climate finance ministers group (Reuters)
• Climate disclosure could spark big investments (Al Jazeera):
  
  Requiring financial institutions and companies to disclose climate change risks will trigger huge shifts in capital investments around the world, says United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, adding that US President Joe Biden plans to issue an executive order on the issue soon.
• Analysis warns of looming wave of abandoned oil and gas wells:
• Waves of Abandonment: The Permian Basin is ground zero for a billion-dollar surge of zombie oil wells. (Grist):
  
  Statistical modeling by Grist and The Texas Observer suggests another 13,000 wells are likely to be abandoned in the coming years...A nascent but growing body of research suggests that these sorts of leaks make oil and gas wells significant contributors to climate change - especially if they're not plugged. Leaking wells also have the potential to poison sources of drinking water.
• VIDEO: Create Jobs for Oil/Gas Workers, Plugging Oil and Gas Wells (Climate Crocks)
• Biden plan would spend $16B to clean up old mines, oil wells (AP)
• Bad day in court for more Trump-era rules:
• Trump Landfill Methane Emissions Rule Scrapped by Appeals Court (Bloomberg)
• Court Tosses Trump Rule Limiting Emissions Regulations (The Hill)
• General Motors goes all in on all-electric trucks:
• GM to build Chevrolet Silverado Electric Pickup with 400-mile range at new Factory Zero (Electrek):
  
  The automaker confirmed that the new electric pickup is designed from the ground up to be an all-electric vehicle with the Ultium battery and drivetrain technology.
• Chevrolet will build an electric Silverado with 400 miles of range (Engadget)
• GM shares hit new record on plans for electric Chevy Silverado pickup (CNBC)

'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

• Don't Watch Netflix's 'Seaspiracy' (Earther)
• Sea Level Rise Is Killing Trees on the Atlantic Coast, Creating 'Ghost Forests' Visible From Space (The Conversation)
• Scientists Alarmed at Surging Atmospheric Methane, CO2 (EcoWatch)
• In the Heartland: Clean Energy has to Make its Case (Climate Crocks)
• Wyoming bills to slow coal plant closures sent to governor as 4 other states pursue similar steps (Utility Dive)
• Even the Great Lakes' deepest waters are now warming (Grist)
• 65 percent of voters support corporate tax hikes to pay for Biden's infrastructure plan, new poll finds (Business Insider)
• The Climate Deniers Regulating Texas Oil and Gas Have Somehow Avoided Blackout Scrutiny (Earther)
• California utility PG&E facing criminal charges over the state's largest 2019 wildfire (CNN)
• Florida Crisis Highlights a Nationwide Risk From Toxic Ponds (NY Times)
• Republicans Mobilize For Showdown To Block Biden Infrastructure Plan (CNN)
• Southwest Braces For Water Cutbacks As Drought Deepens Along The Colorado (Arizona Republic)
• In Europe, a Backlash Is Growing Over Incinerating Garbage (Yale e360)
• Marine Species Increasingly Can't Live At Equator Due To Global Heating (Guardian UK)
• Biden Tax Plan Targets Fossil Fuel Subsidies Worth $35 Billion (Bloomberg)
• Gulf Coast Fish Farm Permit Will Get A Second Look Under Biden Admin (WUSF)
• 8 injured, 1 dead after 2-alarm fire at paint factory on Leonard Ave. in Columbus (NBC-Columbus)
• The 'Green Energy' That Might Be Ruining the Planet [wood-burning for energy] (Politco/Yahoo)
• How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
• Feeding Cattle Seaweed Reduces Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions 82 Percent (Phys.Org)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• Exxon's Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• 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: Texas, New Mexico, Environment, Republicans, Green News, EPA, Fracking, Donald Trump, Natural gas, Coal, Oil, Climate change, China, Electric vehicles, Mining, Infrastructure, Dept. of Treasury, Pollution, Janet Yellen, GM