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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Colorado’s Marshall Fire now the most destructive wildfire in state history; 2022 kicks off with record-breaking extreme weather in the U.S. and around the world; PLUS: Southern California beaches closed after heavy rains trigger massive sewage spill… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 1/4/2022

‘Green News Report’ – January 4, 2022  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   Â· · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – January 4, 2022  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The reddest U.S. states face the deepest climate danger; Jackpile Mine toxic legacy continues at Laguna Pueblo; Hawaii upholds order requiring US Navy to drain fuel tanks; Changing climate parches Afghanistan, exacerbating poverty; Chile rewrites constitution, confronting climate change head on; Solar power projects see the light on former Appalachian coal land; Germany shuts down half of its remaining coal plants… PLUS: A WA State tree has stood for 500 years. Will it be sold for $17,500?… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Colorado’s Marshall Fire the most destructive in state history:
• Crews box in Colorado wildfire as investigators seek cause (SF Gate)
• Colorado Residents Ponder the Road Ahead After Wildfires (NY Times)
• Officials: Nearly 1K structures destroyed in Colorado fire (AP)
• Colorado’s Marshall fire: Climate change and growing population led to disaster in Boulder County, scientists say (Denver Post):
  A warming climate laid the foundation for wildfires to happen year-round instead of just in the summer and that needs to be taken into consideration as more homes are built, the scientists said…The Marshall fire has also made scientists realize that the wildland-urban interface, where developments meet natural land, is larger than they knew, Balch said.
• VIDEO: Dem Now
• Unprecedented Events Continue to Unfold – December Fires in Colorado (Climate Crocks)
• Disaster in Colorado Makes the Point – How Long Before Insurance Companies Pull the Rug on Climate Risks? (Climate Crocks)
• 2021 goes out with record-breaking December heat around the world:
• December Was Likely the Hottest on Record for the U.S. (Earther):
  The weather wasn’t just wild, it was also incredibly hot across large parts of the Lower 48, leading to what is likely a new national record.
• 67-degree day in Kodiak, Alaska, sets new statewide temperature record (CNN)
• Falcon Lake, 99F, National High and Low Temperature for 01/01/2022 (NOAA)
• Unusually warm temperatures were recorded across Europe last month (Buzz)
• Why has UK’s weather been so mild and is it linked to climate crisis? (Guardian UK)
• Texas natural gas producers failed to winterize infrastructure:
• Plunging Natural Gas Supply Shows Texas Still Not Ready for Cold (Bloomberg):
  Texas’s natural gas industry had almost a year to prepare for last weekend’s cold blast and avoid another loss of production. But yet again, instruments froze, output plunged and companies spewed a miasma of pollutants into the atmosphere in a bid to keep operations stable.
• Texas Gas Supplies Still Not Reliable (Climate Crocks)
• Brazil: Bahia floods, dams burst after torrential rains:
• Dams burst in Brazil as region hit by floods (Reuters/Yahoo News)
• Severe Brazil flooding spreads in Bahia and beyond (AP)
• VIDEO: Dramatic footage shows towns underwater after huge floods (CNN)
• Biden Admin. fines company for longest-running offshore oil spill in US history
• Louisiana Company to Pay $43 Million for Longest-Running Oil Spill in U.S. History (NY Times)
• Taylor Energy Company to Pay Over $43 Million and Transfer $432 Million Decommissioning Trust Fund to the United States for Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (U.S. Dept. of Justice)
• $475M Settlement Proposed In Longest-Running US Oil Spill (AP)
• SoCal beaches closed due to massive sewage spill:
• Southern California beaches closed after massive sewage spill (CBS News):
  Health officials closed several Southern California beaches after a massive sewage spill last week reached swimming areas. Beaches in Los Angeles County and the city of Long Beach were closed temporarily pending water quality tests.
• VIDEO: Long Beach closes beaches after sewage spill of up to 7M gallons (ABC7 Los Angeles)

‘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

• Reddest States Face Deepest Climate Danger (Climate Crocks)
• Germany Calls Nuclear Power ‘Dangerous,’ Rejects EU Plan (AP)
• Ormat Nevada Geothermal Project Approval Before a Federal Judge (Bloomberg)
• Hawaii Upholds Order Requiring Navy To Drain Fuel Tanks (AP)
• Jackpile Mine Toxic Legacy Continues At Laguna Pueblo (Indian Country Today)
• Changing Climate Parches Afghanistan, Exacerbating Poverty (AP)
• EPA To Require More Facilities To Report Releases Of Carcinogenic Gas (The Hill)
• Jump in Deforestation Of World’s Most Biodiverse Savanna Alarms Scientists (Reuters)
• Chile Writes Its Constitution, Confronting Climate Change Head On (NY Times)
• Solar Power Projects See The Light on Former Appalachian Coal Land (Thompson Reuters Foundation)
• Powerful Methane Cloud Seen by Satellite Came From Georgia Pipe (Bloomberg)
• Germany Shuts Down Half Of Its 6 Remaining Nuclear Plants (AP)
• In Most Polluted SF Neighborhood, Polluters Operated Without Permits (Inside Climate News)
• China Fires Up Giant Coal Power Plant In Face Of Calls For Cuts (Thompson Reuters Foundation)
• This Tree Has Stood Here For 500 Years. Will It Be Sold For $17,500? (Washington Post)
• Solar power has changed Syrian refugees’ lives in Jordan – and they want more (Climate Change News)
• Green Upheaval: The New Geopolitics of Energy (Foreign Affairs)
• VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
• Guilt, grief and anxiety as young people fear for climate’s future (Reuters)
• 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
• An Empire of Dying Wells: Old oil and gas sites are a climate menace. Meet the company that owns more of America’s decaying wells than any other. (Bloomberg)
• 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 9 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• 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.