‘Green News Report’ – July 21, 2026

with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

Desi Doyen

July 21, 2026, 10:36am
PT

No Comments

Follow and stream @GreenNewsReport!…

(Or use “Click here to listen…” link below.)

IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: U.S. and Iran escalate conflict, targeting vital civilian water infrastructure; Public backlash rises against resource-hungry data centers, with the first statewide ban in the nation; PLUS: Supergenius Republicans call for punishing Canada over climate-driven wildfire smoke… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 7/21/2026

‘Green News Report’ – July 21, 2026 | with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – July 21, 2026 | with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

0:00 0:00

Download Episode Subscribe RSS/Podcast

GNR‘s now celebrating 17 YEARS of independent green news, politics, analysis, snarky comment and connecting climate change dots over your public airwaves!Click here to help us celebrate with a donation!…

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): Trump attacks top US scientific body over climate chapter in judges’ manual; Majority of US voters link extreme weather to climate crisis, study finds; Trump panel seeks to weaken historic-preservation reviews of projects; Industry helps keep Louisiana communities in the dark on toxic air; Trump DOI cancels protections for species threatened with extinction … PLUS: California restricts utility shutoffs as dangerous heat spreads … and much, MUCH more! …

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

Tropical Storm Bertha forms in Gulf of Mexico:

VIDEO: Tropical Storm Bertha maps tracker: Cone of uncertainty, watches, rainfall (Weather Channel)
Tropical Storm Bertha drifts toward land as Hurricane Fausto forms in the eastern Pacific (AP):
The slow-moving storm drifted for hours on Monday, but is expected to stay near or along the northern Gulf Coast early this week, unleashing heavy rain on coastal areas of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana as it pushes west toward Texas.
Tropical Storm Bertha forms, threatening Gulf Coast with flooding rain and strong wind gusts (Scripps News)
Here comes rare ‘Atlantic Niña’: What does it mean for the hurricane season? (USA Today/MSN)

US and Iran conflict escalates to target civilian drinking water infrastructure:

Houthis announce Red Sea naval blockade against Saudi Arabia:

Global oil inventories reaching critically low levels:

New York, New Jersey battle rains, floods, smoke:

Republicans vow to punish Canada over drifting wildfire smoke:

‘Insane’: Republicans push to punish Canada for wildfires (Huffington Post/MSN)
VIDEO: Following Wildfire Threats – Trump Tariffs Canada (This Is Not Cool):
[T]emperatures in the Boundary Waters area of Minnesota, near Canada, hovered in the 104° F range prior to the ignition, probably caused by lightning.
VIDEO: Trump on Canada: “They should pay us some damages or something” (Aaron Rupar/Bluesky)
VIDEO: Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) tells Fox that the US will be sanctioning Canada due to wildfires (Acyn/Twitter)
VIDEO: Some right-wing media figures blast commonsense health advice that limits exposure to dangerous wildfire smoke (Media Matters)

Dramatic increase in wildfires in North America:

We charted every wildfire since 1984. There’s been a drastic increase (USA today:
“There’s certainly never been a wildfire without ignition, there’s never been a wildfire without fuel, so climate is not the only factor, but we do have multiple lines of evidence that climate change is contributing to the increase in area burned,” said Noah Diffenbaugh, professor and senior fellow in Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability.
A Warmer World Will Be a Smokier One (NY Times):
“What we’re seeing here is a dramatic increase in wildfires in North America,” said Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist and professor at the University of Michigan. As long as humans continue to burn fossil fuels, Dr. Overpeck said, global temperatures will increase, droughts will worsen, and there will be bigger, more frequent wildfires and smoke events. The haze hanging over much of the United States today, Dr. Overpeck said, is “the harbinger of worse times to come.”
Why are wildfires becoming more frequent across North America? Causes explained (Economic Times)
Why are wildfires getting worse? UCLA researchers point to climate and fuel buildup (UCLA Newsroom)”
[W]ildfires in the western United States have significantly worsened over the past several decades, according to research led by UCLA. Forest fires now burn 10 times as much acreage annually as in 1985, and severity has increased even faster — high-severity fire alone increased thirtyfold in California between 1985 and 2024.

Data center costs and impacts earning a massive public backlash:

Southaven residents sue Elon Musk’s xAI alleging harm from gas turbines (Mississippi today)
Cancer-linked chemicals pumped into major US city by Elon Musk’s data center, lawsuit claims (Daily Mail):
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) claimed in a statement that ‘xAI is operating 27 gas turbines without an air permit in Southaven, Mississippi, effectively building a power plant for its Colossus 2 data center, which powers the company’s chatbot, Grok.’
Mississippi homeowners blame a noisy data center plant for sleepless nights. The mayor’s advice? “Consider selling.” (CBS News)
Black communities in Mississippi already hit by lung disease now face xAI’s 59 unpermitted turbines (Yahoo News)
As Data Centers Flood Wyoming, Water Pollution Fouls Good Faith (WyoFile):
Pinpointing the source of contamination came months after the discovery of the bacterium in late February. The pollution forced the city to stop irrigating sports fields and parks with recycled sanitary sewer system water, drain and disinfect the system and use drinking water for irrigation instead.
Wyoming tightens wastewater rules after Meta datacenter contractor flushed contaminated water (Guardian)
Planned data center in Pittsburg brings residents out in force in opposition (CBS News)

NY Gov. Hochul implements moratorium on hyperscale data centers for one year:

New York Becomes First State in the Nation to Pause New Hyperscale Data Centers (Inside Climate News):
The Democratic governor said she would pause environmental permits while the state researches and develops a regulatory framework to protect ratepayers, the environment, the energy grid and communities. Four hyperscale data centers are already operating in the state, and applications are pending for 39 more..Tuesday’s order represents a good first step but does not go as far as the earlier legislation, said Eric Wood, senior environmental program coordinator at the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit organization.
New York Enacts Nation’s First Statewide Moratorium on Data Centers (NY Times):
Other Democratic governors, including Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Gavin Newsom of California, have also weighed in on the side of Big Tech, citing the economic opportunities the projects might bring to states still suffering from deindustrialization…Ms. Hochul’s order will require data centers to pay into a state fund to help with badly needed electrical grid improvements. She is also pushing for legislation that would strip data centers of their tax subsidies so as to mitigate their burden on taxpayers.
Data centers to add billions in power costs in 13 states (NY Times, no paywall)
VIDEO: NY Gov. Kathy Hochul announces 1-year data center moratorium (Office of Gov. Kathy Hochul)
AUDIO: Energy, Interior Chiefs Beclown Selves for Trump, Fossil Fuel Industry as America Chokes, Drowns, Burns (‘BradCast’ 7/16/2024)