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IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: "ClimateGate" climate scientist cleared of wrongdoing; Hope for Bluefin Tuna; Big Oil and Coal fight to keep subsidies; PLUS: Obama's mixed signals on cap-and-trade legislation... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Pentagon says climate change a national security issue; Studies find faster tree growth as climate changes; Bangladesh risks becoming failed state; Hawaii may impose oil tax; Packaged salads may contain E. coli bacteria; Oil, trucking industries sue CA over fuel rule; Rep. Joe Barton's (R-TX) gets $100K from gas well stake; Utah gov gets $10K from coal co. seeking permit ... PLUS: A must-Listen NPR Report: Mining Giant Must Clean Up Mess....
Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...
- Climate Scientist Cleared in 'ClimateGate':
- Researcher on Climate Is Cleared in Inquiry (NY Times)
- Penn State investigates researcher over "Climate-gate" (Washington Post)
- Climate change researchers must be more open, says chief scientist (Guardian UK)
- Inquiry Report: Concerning the Allegations of Research Misconduct Against Dr. Michael E. Mann (Penn State University)
- Hope for Bluefin Tuna on the Brink of Extinction:
- France to support bluefin tuna trade ban (Reuters)
- Mixed signals on fate of Cap-N-Trade:
- Sen. Graham Slams Push for a 'Half-Assed Energy Bill' (Greenwire)
- Administration Presses On for a 'Cap' on Carbon Emissions (Greenwire):
According to Browner, the president simply was making an observation about the current Senate process, before saying "this is what I want to do." In his speech, Obama later emphasized that there was going to be a price on pollution and referred to the acid rain program, which used a cap-and-trade system to successfully curb sulfur dioxide emissions in the 1990s. - Obama, Graham Warn Dems Not to Settle For "Half-Assed" Climate Bill (Mother Jones)
- Graham Calls Energy-Only Idea "Half-Assed" (The New Republic)
- Obama Pushes Energy Plan That GOP May Support (NY Times)
- Negative Energy: A key bloc of Democrats has a climate Plan B: Ditch cap and trade for an energy bill filled with industry giveaways. (Mother Jones)
- Obama Acknowledges Senate Unlikely To Adopt Pollution Limits (Talking Points Memo)
- TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Lindsey Graham on the importance of passing climate legislation (Grist) [emphasis added]:
If the lesson from health care is let’s not do anything hard, then why don’t we all go home, which might be good for the country by the way. But if we go home, China won’t.
...
I’ve become convinced that carbon pollution is a bad thing, not a good thing, and it can be dealt with, and we can create jobs.This is the time, this is the Congress, and this is the moment. So if we retreat and try to just go to the energy-only approach—which will never yield the legislative results that I want on energy independence—then we just made the problem worse.
What Congress is going to come up here and do all these hard things? Who are these people in the future? Because we constantly count on them. I don’t know who they are. I’ve yet to find them.
So I guess it falls to me and you. So let’s do it.
- Meanwhile, China Pulls Ahead in Wind Energy:
- China doubles wind power in 1 year (Business Week)
- China’s Labor Edge Overpowers Obama’s ‘Green’ Jobs Initiatives (Bloomberg)
- Big Oil & Big Coal Fight to Keep Handouts:
- Oil Industry: We Like Our Handouts! (Mother Jones)
- Kentucky legislators criticize plan to cut coal subsidies (McClatchy DC)
- Obama Budget Erases Fossil Fuel Subsidies, Ramps Up Nuclear Spending; Clean Energy Comes Out a Winner (SolveClimate.org)
- Oil and gas interests set spending record in 2009 (Greenwire)
- Big Oil's Big Year (Mother Jones)
- Who’s Afraid of a Clean-Energy Future? (Wall St. Journal)
- REPORT: Estimating U.S. Government Subsidies to Energy Sources: 2002-2008 (Environmental Law Institute)
'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report...
- Pentagon: ‘Climate Change, Energy Security, And Economic Stability Are Inextricably Linked’ (Think Progress)
- Studies Find Faster Tree Growth as Climate Changes, Potential to Drive Further Warming (Solve Climate.org)
- Oil, Trucking Industries Sue Calif. Over Fuel Rule (NY Times)
- Bangladesh risks becoming failed state, retired general says (Reuters)
- Hawaii considers taxing oil to pay for renewables (Business Week)
- ICK!: Packaged Salad Can Contain High Levels of Bacteria (Civil Eats)
- U.S. Rep. Joe Barton's gas well stake raises ethical questions (Dallas Morning News)
- Utah gov given $10,000 by coal co. seeking permit (Business Week)
- NPR: A Toxic Century --- Mining Giant Must Clean Up Mess: In December, the Justice Department announced a settlement in one of the largest environmental bankruptcies in U.S. history. The American Smelting and Refining Company, known as Asarco, will pay a record $1.79 billion to settle claims for hazardous waste pollution at 80 sites in as many as 20 states. (NPR)