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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Cold weather knocked out Texas power in February, and heat threatens to do so now; Intensifying mega-drought stokes water conflict in Oregon; Judge blocks Biden’s temporary suspension of oil and gas leasing on public lands; PLUS: Colorado state legislature approves slew of climate action and plastic pollution legislation… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 6/17/2021

‘Green News Report’ – June 17, 2021  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – June 17, 2021  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Earth Is Now Trapping An ‘Unprecedented’ Amount Of Heat, NASA Says; How Long Can the West Survive Republican Obstruction on Climate?; U.S. nuclear regulator approves fuel for next-generation reactors; Florida Power Leaving Coal for Solar, Hydrogen; Climate crisis is suffocating the world’s lakes, study finds; Louisiana Gas Industry’s Answer To Lax Safety Enforcement? Loosen It More… PLUS: Tabasco: Making Hot Sauce And Working To Save Wetlands… and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• Extreme heat wave breaks new records in U.S. West:
• Climate Change Batters the West Before Summer Even Begins (NY times):
  Global warming has been fueling disasters in the region for years. Now, an early heat wave and severe drought are threatening lives and leaving water in perilously short supply.
• All-Time Temperature Records Are Putting U.S. Power Grids at Risk (Earther):
  It’s actually kind of difficult to grasp how serious and how widespread this heat wave is. For a little context: Doctors in Arizona and Nevada warned this week that people could get burned on hot asphalt, sand, and sidewalks as temperatures soared…A number of cities have already seen their hottest days ever recorded at any time of year.
• Heat wave in West enters Day 6 as entire state of Arizona soars to record highs (NBC News)
• VIDEO: Extreme heat wave shatters records across the West (NBC Today Show)
• Abnormal temperatures are baking the Western US in triple digits. These heat waves could become the new normal. (USA Today/MSN)
• Texas grid operator warns consumers to conserve energy to prevent blackouts:
• Texas grid operator urges electricity conservation as many power generators are unexpectedly offline and temperatures rise (Texas Tribune):
  The number of plants that were forced offline today is “very concerning” Lasher said.
• VIDEO: Texas Grid Teetering Again, and it’s only June (Climate Crocks)
• Texas residents asked to conserve energy by ERCOT amid heat wave (ABC News)
• VIDEO: In Power Crisis, Texas Have Questions about Governor’s “Fix” for Grid (Climate Crocks)
• Is Texas headed toward another blackout? Did the Legislature fix the power grid? Here are answers to your questions about the grid. (Texas Tribune):
  Approximately 12,000 megawatts of power generation were offline Monday afternoon — enough to power 2.4 million homes on a hot summer day. That’s several times more than what ERCOT would typically expect to go down during June.
• In Power Crisis, Texas Have Questions about Governor’s “Fix” for Grid (Climate Crocks)
• Western mega-drought causing hydropower dam problems:
• How Our Hydropower System Is Impacting The Drought Gripping The American West (NPR):
  The first direct impact the drought can have on the grid in the western United States is to reduce stream flow, which reduces the available fuel for producing hydropower. And when the Western grid loses hydropower, it has to be replaced by something. And almost always, that replacement is electricity from natural gas power plants, which are both more expensive and more polluting.
• Drought Diminishes Hydropower Capacity in Western U.S. (Univ. of Arizona Water Resources Research Center)
• Water Wars: Western drought stokes rigtwing conflict in Oregon:
• Amid mega-drought, rightwing militia stokes water rebellion in US west (Guardian UK):
  Protesters affiliated with rightwing anti-government activist Ammon Bundy’s People’s Rights Network are threatening to break a deadlock over water management in the area by unilaterally opening the headgates of a reservoir.
• AUDIO: Klamath Basin water conflict could offer opportunity to revisit solutions (Oregon Public Radio)
• Amid Historic Drought, a New Water War in the West (NY Times):
  A drought crisis has erupted in the Klamath Basin along the California-Oregon border, with fish dying en masse and farmers infuriated that they have been cut off from their main water source.
• Nevada is first state in nation to ban ‘useless’ grass:
• Drought-stricken Nevada enacts ban on ‘non-functional’ grass (AP):
  A new Nevada law will outlaw about 31 percent of the grass in the Las Vegas area in an effort to conserve water amid a drought that’s drying up the region’s primary water source: the Colorado River…The ban targets what the Southern Nevada Water Authority calls “non-functional turf.” It applies to grass that virtually no one uses at office parks, in street medians and at entrances to housing developments. It excludes single-family homes, parks and golf courses.
• Las Vegas’s new strategy for tackling drought — banning ‘useless grass’ (Guardian UK)
• Nevada Takes a Baby Step Toward Banning Lawns (Earther)
• Trump-appointed Judge blocks Biden’s oil/gas leasing pause:
• Federal judge blocks Biden’s pause on new oil, gas leases (AP):
  Doughty said his ruling applies nationwide. It grants a preliminary injunction — technically a halt to the suspension pending further arguments on the merits of the case.
• Biden’s Climate Agenda Is Colliding With Trump’s Judiciary (Huffington Post):
  [T]he ruling highlights perhaps the biggest obstacle to Biden’s climate agenda: a judiciary packed with conservative judges who share former President Donald Trump’s loyalty to the fossil fuel industry.
• Colorado bans plastic bag bans, passes slew of climate action legislation:
  • Colorado bill banning plastic bags and foam containers, repealing preemption, heads to governor (Waste Dive)
  • Colorado Climate Compromise Passes In The Final Days Of The State Legislative Session (Colorado Public Radio)
  • Colorado touts climate wins, but critics say it’s not enough (E&E News)
  • Colorado business leaders blast legislative session as bad for companies (Axios)
  • Op-ed: With Polis’ signature, Colorado will finally compete with Utah on infastructure (Denver Post)

‘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

• Earth Is Now Trapping An ‘Unprecedented’ Amount Of Heat, NASA Says (Washington Post)
• How Long Can the West Survive Republican Obstruction on Climate? (The New Republic)
• U.S. nuclear regulator approves fuel for next-generation reactors (Reuters)
• Florida Power Leaving Coal for Solar, Hydrogen (Climate Crocks)
• VIDEO: Arnie Gunderson on Al Jazeera: Chinese Nuclear Power Plant Leak (Faire Winds)
• Electric fan use for cooling during hot weather: a biophysical modelling study (The Lancet)
• Climate crisis is suffocating the world’s lakes, study finds (Guardian UK)
• Senators Face Roadblocks To Passing Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan (CNBC)
• Louisiana Gas Industry’s Answer To Lax Safety Enforcement? Loosen It More (Floodlight/Guardian UK)
• EPA Puts More Delay On Trump Lead And Copper In Drinking Water Rule (The Hill)
• Dirty Money: What Is The Environmental Cost Of Bitcoin? (Thompson Reuters Foundation)
• Study: Half of US Cosmetics Contain Toxic Chemicals (AP)
• Tabasco: Making Hot Sauce And Working To Save Wetlands (AP)
• Nations Must Drop Fossil Fuels, Fast, World Energy Body Warns (NY Times)
• Electric cars: What will happen to all the dead batteries? (BBC)
• Climate Fund Choices for Investors Are Multiplying (Bloomberg/Yahoo)
• How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
• 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).