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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Powerful Cyclone Mocha causes widespread destruction in Myanmar, Bangladesh; It'll cost $30 billion to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells in the Gulf of Mexico alone; PLUS: Biden EPA unveils new rules to clean up carbon pollution from the nation's power plants... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Climate/crop impacts could come sooner than previously thought; Unusually early heat wave in Pacific Northwest tests records; Youth lawsuit challenging Montana’s pro-fossil fuel policies is heading to trial; Is carbon capture viable? In a new rule, the EPA is asking power plants to prove it; What’s behind the severe decline in Florida’s citrus harvest?; Your homeowners' insurance bill is the canary in the climate coal mine; EPA looks to toss 'deceptive' plastics recycling symbol... PLUS: Nature lawyers up: growing number of countries and courts say the environment should be endowed with legal rights... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Tropical Cyclone Mocha causes widespread destruction in Myanmar, Bangladesh:
• Early warning, preparedness likely saved thousands of lives during Cyclone Mocha (AP)
• Myanmar and Bangladesh begin cleaning up, counting casualties after devastating Cyclone Mocha (AP):
  
  The camps house members of the Muslim Rohingya minority who lost their homes in a brutal 2017 counterinsurgency campaign led by Myanmar security forces. Aid agency presence is spotty and help from the country's military government negligible. It is difficult to confirm the extent of casualties and damage because telecommunication facilities in the area were damaged by the storm’s high winds. Information is hard to obtain even in normal times because the military restricts the media.
• Early reports of 'extensive damage' as Cyclone Mocha hits Myanmar's coast (CNN)
• Cyclone Mocha: Death toll in Myanmar at least 32 (BBC)
• Cyclone Mocha's Quick, Brutal Path (Earther)
• April 2023 was 4th hottest April on record, ocean heat spike persists:
• April 2023 was Earth’s fourth warmest on record (NOAA):
  
  Southern Hemisphere saw its warmest month on record; Global ocean temperature reached a record high for April>
• April 2023: Earth’s 4th-warmest April on record (Yale Climate Communications)
• Ocean temperatures are off the charts right now, and scientists are alarmed (CNN):
  
  Though air pollution has a significant impact on human health, it also acts as an artificial sunscreen and reflects sunlight away from the Earth. One theory is the absence of aerosols may have turned up the heat, von Schuckmann said.
• Expert Comment: Air pollution cools climate more than expected – making cutting carbon emissions more urgent (Univ. of Oxford, 11/22/2022)
• It'll cost $30 billion to plug abandoned oil/gas wells in Gulf of Mexico:
• Financial liabilities and environmental implications of unplugged wells for the Gulf of Mexico and coastal waters (Nature Energy)
• Price to Plug Old Wells in Gulf of Mexico? $30 Billion, Study Says. (NY Times):
  
  Even as the world starts to transition away from coal, oil and gas toward renewable energy, decades of mining and drilling in almost every corner of the world, including in oceans, have left behind the need for an immense plugging and cleanup effort.
• 14,000 Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells in the Gulf of Mexico Are Spewing Methane (Earther):
  
  Sadly, it’s unlikely that all of these wells are going to be plugged soon. Operators are responsible for plugging oil and gas wells after they’re no longer needed, but some companies simply walk away or transfer ownership....Plugging them could actually create thousands of jobs across the country, but, like the wells in the Gulf, government agencies will have to tackle the issue of the cost.
• Supreme Court upholds California animal welfare law:
• Supreme Court upholds California ban on 'unethical' pork, Proposition 12 (ABC News):
  
  The ruling, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, protects the authority of states to enact laws to protect the health and welfare of the public even if the measures have impacts out of state..."While the Constitution addresses many weighty issues, the type of pork chops California merchants may sell is not on that list," Gorsuch said.
• Supreme Court upholds California animal-cruelty law that bans narrow cages for pigs (LA Times)
• The Supreme Court rediscovers humility — in a case about pigs (Vox)
• Supreme Court's ruling on humane treatment of pigs could catalyze a wave of new animal welfare laws (The Conversation)
• EPA unveils new emissions rules for the nation's power plants:
• EPA: New pollution limits proposed for US coal, gas power plants reflect 'urgency' of climate crisis (Washington Post)
• Is carbon capture viable? In a new rule, the EPA is asking power plants to prove it. (Grist)
• EPA: New pollution limits proposed for US coal, gas power plants reflect ‘urgency’ of climate crisis (AP):
  
  If finalized, the proposed regulation would mark the first time the federal government has restricted carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, which generate about 25% of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution, second only to the transportation sector. The rule also would apply to future electric plants and would avoid up to 617 million metric tons of carbon dioxide through 2042, equivalent to annual emissions of 137 million passenger vehicles, the EPA said.
• Biden rule tells power plants to cut climate pollution by 90 percent — or shut down (Politico)
• The nerd's guide to Biden’s new climate rule (Politico)
• EPA Proposes New Carbon Pollution Standards for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants to Tackle the Climate Crisis and Protect Public Health (EPA)
• EPA proposes new rules that would dramatically slash planet-warming pollution from power plants (CNN)
• The EPA tightens pollution standards for power plants, with a big loophole for coal and gas (The Verge)
• VIDEO: Administrator Regan Announces EPA's Proposed Power Plant Regulations to Tackle the Climate Crisis (EPA/YouTube)
• Transcript: Administrator Michael Regan, Remarks on Proposed Power Plant Regulations to Tackle the Climate Crisis (EPA)

'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

• Nature lawyers up: growing number of countries and courts say the environment should be endowed with legal rights (NY Times)
• Climate crop impacts could come sooner than previously thought (Climate Crocks)
• Unusually Early Heat Wave In Pacific Northwest Tests Records (AP)
• Youth lawsuit challenging Montana’s pro-fossil fuel policies is heading to trial (AP)
• Is carbon capture viable? In a new rule, the EPA is asking power plants to prove it. (Grist)
• VIDEO: What’s behind a severe decline in Florida’s citrus harvest (PBS NewsHour)
• Shipping lobby group advises caution on climate targets (AP)
• Your Homeowners' Insurance Bill Is the Canary in the Climate Coal Mine (NY Times)
• Kerry Challenges Oil Industry To Prove Its Promised Tech Rescues (AP)
• Herders In Kenya Kill 10 Lions, Including Loonkiito, One Of The Oldest (AP)
• Enviro, Oil Companies Battle Ohio Over Dumping of Fracking Wastewater (Inside Climate News)
• Maker Of Graphite For Batteries Plans $800 Million Factory in SW Georgia (AP)
• EPA Looks To Toss 'Deceptive' Plastics Recycling Symbol (E&E News)
• Biden Moves To Mandate Greener Building Codes In One-Sixth Of New Houses (Huffington Post)
• These are the places most at risk from record-breaking heat waves as the planet warms (CNN)
• Why It's Time to Officially Get Over Your EV Range Anxiety (Inside Climate News)
• Building Steam in Lithium Valley (The American Prospect)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here's How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: See what three degrees of global warming looks like (The Economist/YouTube)
• The 7 climate tipping points that could change the world forever (Grist)
• The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world (Guardian UK)
• Four solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC (Dr. Michael Mann, Penn Today)
• UN warns Earth 'firmly on track toward an unlivable world' (AP)
• Environmental Sacrifice Zones: 8 Places We've Given Up-Probably Forever (Environmental Health Network)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
• 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
• 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)
• 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.

                 

Article Categories: Environment, U.S. Supreme Court, Myanmar/Burma, Green News, EPA, Natural gas, Coal, Oil, Wind energy, Solar energy, Climate change, Extreme weather, Food/Food Safety, Agriculture, Oceans/Sea Level Rise, Pollution, Electricity