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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Another record storm for the Northeast; Another climate scientist exonerated and another phony "ClimateGate"... PLUS: It's no April Fool's: Obama opens up offshore drilling ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': U.S. solar startup already sold out; The death of another proposed coal-fired power plant?; EPA blocks Texas from easing Clean Air Act scrutiny; BIG jump in clean tech venture capital funding; Natural gas drilling upends landowners' lives, property; 12 dead in 2nd China mine accident in a week; Solving global warming in 7 paragraphs; McDonald's food won't decompose? ... PLUS: Looking Ahead: ‘Britain’s Appalachia’ engineers a brighter post-coal future ...
Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...
- ANOTHER Record Storms Slams Northeast:
- FULL LOCAL COVERAGE: Providence Journal News Blog (Providence Journal)
- Rescue fails for bunnies left in Warwick Mall photo studio (Providence Journal)
- Sewage plants overwhelmed; residents, retailers left reeling (Providence Journal)
- R.I. flooding: 'It makes you want to cry' (USA Today)
- DHS official: Napolitano to tour flood-damaged RI (AP)
- Record rainfall, flooding force evacuations in Northeast: Rhode Island bears the brunt, but Connecticut and Massachusetts also struggle to protect homes, roads and bridges from surging floodwaters. (LA Times)
- READ IT FOR YOURSELF: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States (U.S. Global Change Research Program)
- Northeast hit by record global-warming-type deluge: U.S. media misses the story, while "China spends big to counter severe weather caused by climate change" (ClimateProgress)
- Climate Scientist Exonerated:
- CLIMATE SCIENCE MUST BECOME MORE TRANSPARENT, SAY MPs (British Parliament press release)
- U.K. Panel Calls Climate Data Valid (NY Times)
- Phil Jones Vindicated (Deltoid)
- 'Climategate' panel in London issues mixed report (Washington Post)
- Climategate: The lion that squeaked (ABC)
- House of Commons exonerates Phil Jones: Based on their inquiry and evidence, "the scientific reputation of Professor Jones and CRU remains intact. We have found no reason ... to challenge the scientific consensus ... that 'global warming is happening [and] that it is induced by human activity'."
- A Superstorm for Global Warming Research (Der Spiegel Online)
- Fox News FAIL: FNC Promotes "Climategate II" Disinfo:
- Funny: Sarah Silverman Takes on Climate Denier:
- Sarah Silverman, Amanda Little Take On Climate Skeptic in Rowdy, Profanity-Riddled Debate (Video) (Treehugger)
- NEW RULES For Auto Efficiency, Emissions
- White House mandates new fuel efficiency standards
(Washington Post) - ANALYSIS-US fuel rules spur hybrids, auto engine efficiency (Reuters)
- Fuel-Economy Rules Set EPA Climate-Change Standard (Business Week)
- Drill, Baby, Drill?: President Obama Reverses Off-Shore Drilling Policy:
- With Maps!: Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time (NY Times)
- WATCH THE SPEECH: President's Remarks on Energy Security and Independence, March 31, 2010 (VIDEO) (White House.gov)
- READ THE TRANSCRIPT: Remarks by The President on Energy Security at Andrews Air Force Base, 3/31/2010 (WhiteHouse.gov)
- Environmentalists React: Offshore Outrage (Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones)
- Pelosi lukewarm on drilling policy (The Hill)
- Republicans Hate Obama's Offshore Plan Too (Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones)
- Understanding the allure of ‘drill baby drill’ (Grist)
- Obama mentioned offshore drilling in '08 (NBC's First Read)
- The politics of Obama's offshore drilling announcement (Open Left) [emphasis added]:
Here are the two main political implications of the Obama administration's announcement that it will expand offshore drilling:1. A compromise with Conservadems ....
...
2. Hippie-punching.... - ANALYSIS: Risk Is Clear in Drilling; Payoff Isn’t (NY Times)
- Obama Opens Up the Coast (Mother Jones)
- Bush Official Dan Bartlett Admits Authorizing Offshore Oil Drilling Will Be Unlikely To Win Over Any GOP Votes (Think Progress)
- Obama's Compromise on Drilling Pleases No One (Time)
'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report...
- U.S. Solar Startup Already Sold Out Through 2010: U.S. solar startup Suniva Inc, which makes high-efficiency solar cells and modules, said today it is sold out through 2010 and plans to triple exports over the next five years. (Reuters)
- The Death of Desert Rock?: The 1,500 megawatt coal-fired Desert Rock power, plant proposed for tribal land in the Four Corners region, once seemed like a slam dunk. Seven years later, the energy company is going back to the drawing board.
- EPA Blocks Texas Program That Eased Clean Air Act Scrutiny: The EPA disapproved a Texas air-pollution program that has let thousands of companies bypass rigorous reviews under the Clean Air Act. (Dallas Morning News)
- 12 dead, 32 trapped in latest China mine disaster (AP)
- Cleantech Venture Capital Reaches $1.9B in 1st Quarter (Clean Tech)
- Landowners’ fears come true as natural gas drilling abruptly upends family’s lives (Denver Record-Chronicle):
[Ruggiero] returned [home] to find several acres of their 10-acre parcel stripped bare. At the center of the chaos sat a white pickup... she worked her way to the foreman’s truck. He would only roll down his window at first.“You’re trespassing,” she told him. “You don’t have a permit.”
“I don’t need a permit,” he told her. “I have the lease.”
- In Which I Solve Global Warming in Seven Paragraphs: If what our global civilization ultimately needs is the ability to produce large amounts of energy per capita, without at the same time demolishing the underlying ecosystems upon which that same civilization rests... We need to come up with cheap, efficient and abundant forms of clean energy, and we need to do it quick. (The Regimen)
- McDonald’s scraps composting program because food won’t decompose: McDonald's announced this morning that it would discontinue plans for a worldwide composting initiative after scientists confirmed that no item on the McDonald's menu is compostable. (Grist)
- Saving The Wales: ‘Britain’s Appalachia’ engineers a brighter post-coal future:
You can look at Wales as the Appalachia of the U.K.— rural, hilly, beautiful, and, for much of the past two centuries, economically dependent on digging up and selling a fossil fuel. The key difference is that Wales built up its mining industry sooner, and saw it collapse sooner. But laws of economics promise the real Appalachia is following the same path.Here’s why: Coal is a finite resource. It’s running out.