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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill inches forward in divided Senate; Florida Gulf Coast hit with massive, toxic red tide; Extreme weather cutting the reliability of nuclear power plants; PLUS: Oregon moves ahead on historic clean energy legislation… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 7/29/2021

‘Green News Report’ – July 29, 2021  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – July 29, 2021  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Cutting Carbon Pollution Quickly Would Save About 74 Million Lives, Study Finds; Historic floods fuel misery, rage in Detroit; Coastal Landfills Are No Match for Rising Seas; EV backers see failure to advance charging in new DOE building codes; People are dying because of Republican hostility to science; Ohio Shows Hostility to Clean Energy. Again; … PLUS: The insect apocalypse: ‘Our world will grind to a halt without them’… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Bipartisan infrastructure deal inches forward in U.S. Senate:
• Infrastructure deal: Senate suddenly acts to take up bill (AP):
  Biden welcomed the accord as one that would show America can “do big things.” It includes the most significant long-term investments in nearly a century, he said, on par with building the transcontinental railroad or the Interstate highway system.
• One Deal Forward, One Deal Back (The American Prospect):
  The same day the bipartisan bill advances in the Senate, one of its key architects throws cold water on the reconciliation companion.
• VIDEO: Bipartisan infrastructure deal a ‘giant step forward’ despite compromise, Sen. Tester says (PBS NewsHour)
• Bipartisan infrastructure deal still faces long, uncertain road (MarketWatch/MSN)
• Here’s how the bipartisan infrastructure deal would invest $280 billion in transportation (Washington Post/MSN)
• VIDEO: “This Is Not a Climate Bill”: Leah Stokes on Why Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Doesn’t Go Far Enough (Democracy Now!)
• Trump tries to sabotage the Biden infrastructure deal (Politico)
• Here’s what’s in the $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal (CNBC)
• Sinema doesn’t support Democrats’ $3.5T bill, clinches bipartisan infrastructure deal (Arizona Republic)
• Democrats Call Infrastructure Bill a Down Payment on Climate (NY Times)
• Summery: Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act [PDF] (Politico)
• Another stalled ‘heat dome’ brings triple-digit temperatures to most of U.S.:
• Heat dome sends temperatures soaring from Oregon to Louisiana (Axios):
  The occurrence of yet another heat wave during a drought in the West is ratcheting up wildfire risks. The heat itself is a major public health risk, as extreme heat is typically the biggest annual weather-related cause of mortality in the U.S….Heat watches, warnings and advisories are in effect across 19 states, from Portland, Oregon, east to St. Louis, and running all the way south to New Orleans. Temperatures of between 10°F and 15°F above average in these areas, along with high humidity, pose a public health threat.
• Heat dome roasts Northwest, Central states as “derecho” threat looms in Midwest (Axios)
• Widespread heat wave affects millions of Americans from coast to coast (Axios/Yahoo):
  Forecast highs in northeastern Montana and northern Wyoming, an area of the country that so far this summer has seen more 100-degree days than Dallas, Texas, are once again in the triple digits.
• Another Dangerous “Heat Dome” Is About to Descend on the US (Mother Jones)
• What is a heat dome? (NOAA):
  A heat dome occurs when the atmosphere traps hot ocean air like a lid or cap.
• Climate Central: U.S. cities getting hotter:
• Dog Days of Summer: When Heat Endangers Pets (Climate Central):
  Climate Central looked at the temperature trends for 246 U.S. cities, and found that 94% (232) have seen an increase in days each year that were 77°F or above since 1970. …When the air temperature reaches 77°F, asphalt surfaces can reach 125°F. This is the temperature that can burn human skin, and it can be dangerous for dogs’ unprotected paws.
• Extreme weather curtailing reliability of nuclear energy:
• Increase in frequency of nuclear power outages due to changing climate (Nature Energy)
• Nuclear power’s reliability is dropping as extreme weather increases (Ars Technica):
  Heat has been one of the most direct threats, as higher temperatures mean that the natural cooling sources (rivers, oceans, lakes) are becoming less efficient heat sinks. However, this new analysis shows that hurricanes and typhoons have become the leading causes of nuclear outages…But other factors—like the clogging of cooling intake pipes by unusually abundant jellyfish populations—are a bit less obvious.
• ‘Advanced’ Nuclear Reactors? Don’t Hold Your Breath (Scientific American):
  With little hard evidence, their developers maintain they’ll be cheaper, safer and more secure than existing power plants.
• Florida: Massive toxic red tide triggers massive fish kill:
• VIDEO: Toxic algae bloom on Florida’s coast ravages marine life: “This is an absolute nightmare” (CBS News):
  Warming ocean temperatures due to climate change may lead to more red tides. This spring, more than 200 million gallons of polluted water from an old phosphate plant was dumped in the bay, which could have made this red tide worse.
• Red Tide Has Killed at Least 791 Tons of Fish in Florida (Earther):
  Dead fish have washed up on beaches on Florida’s Gulf Coast as the state faces an early red tide, bringing up similarities to the 2018 disaster.
• Oregon pushes ahead with ambitious clean energy legislation:
• Oregon governor signs ambitious clean energy bill (AP):
  Oregon’s clean energy bill, which sets one of the most ambitious timelines in the country for moving to 100% clean electricity sources, was signed by Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday.
• VIDEO: Gov. Brown Press Conference (Gov. Kate Brown/Youtube)
• Oregon Governor passes clean energy bills and sets timeline to move toward total clean electricity by 2040 (KNDO-TV Portland)
• VIDEO: Gov. Brown signs package of clean energy bills (KPTV-Portland)
• ‘We’re going to see more’ wildfires, Oregon governor warns (Politico)

‘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

• Cutting Carbon Pollution Quickly Would Save About 74 Million Lives, Study Finds (NPR)
• Historic floods fuel misery, rage in Detroit (E&E News)
• Coastal Landfills Are No Match for Rising Seas (The Nation)
• DOE says new building codes to cut energy costs by $138B, but EV backers see failure to advance charging (Utility Dive)
• The insect apocalypse: ‘Our world will grind to a halt without them’ (Guardian UK)
• Inside Clean Energy: Ohio Shows Hostility to Clean Energy. Again (Inside Climate News)
• Lake Powell: ‘Climate change has become real’ – extreme weather sinks prime US tourism site (Guardian UK)
• Seven Big Warnings from the Killer Heat Wave (The Tyee)
• Opinion: People are dying because of Republican hostility to science (Washington Post)
• Biden orders voluntary cybersecurity performance goals for electric utilities, other critical sectors (Utility Dive)
• Too few companies advocate for climate-friendly policies despite lofty goals: report
• Crushing climate impacts to hit sooner than feared: draft UN report (AFP/France 24):
  Climate change will fundamentally reshape life on Earth in the coming decades, even if humans can tame planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, according to a landmark draft report from the UN’s climate science advisors obtained by AFP. Species extinction, more widespread disease, unliveable heat, ecosystem collapse, cities menaced by rising seas — these and other devastating climate impacts are accelerating and bound to become painfully obvious before a child born today turns 30.
• 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).