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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Another string of deadly tornadoes hits the Plains; Another deadly coal mine explosion; Another toxic toy recall ... PLUS: The Blame Game begins on Capitol Hill as oil industry executives blame each other, and BP runs out of ideas ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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': LA Times: Climate change is the true crisis; Ash cloud closes Spanish airports; Romaine lettuce recall expands; China issues strict rules to meet emissions targets; Univ. of Va. "exploring options" on Cuccinelli climate change subpoena; Climate scientists decry 'political assaults'; Report: Climate change could render much of world uninhabitable ...PLUS: Earth may be too hot for humans by 2300: study...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

• 2009: Warmest Year On Record at South Pole:
• South Pole Has Warmest Year on Record: The South Pole experienced its warmest year on record in 2009, according to newly released data from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. (Live Science)
• Highs and lows: South Pole experiences warmest year on record in 2009 (Antarctic Sun, U.S. Antarctic Program)
• Another Toxic Toy Recall:
• Claire’s Recalls Charm Bracelets That Have High Levels of Cadmium (US Consumer Product Safety Commission)
• MJSA Recommends Specific Testing Standards for Cadmium (Manufacturing Jewelers & Suppliers of America)
• Another String of Deadly Tornadoes in the Midwest:
• Violent tornadoes tear through Okla., killing 5 (AP)
• Another Deadly Coal Mine Blast, This Time in Russia:
• 52 dead in Russian mine blasts (CNN)
• Death count keeps rising in Russian mine disaster (Coal tattoo)
• Families Sue to Open Upper Big Branch Mine Explosion Inquiry to Public:
• UMW, Upper Big Branch families sue to open investigation (Coal tattoo):
  "Without the participation of miners' representatives in the accident investigation interviews, MSHA's analysis of its own role, if any, will remain secretive and inherently suspect," states the lawsuit, filed against MSHA chief Joe Main Monday in federal court in Charleston.
• Climate & Clean Energy Bill To Drop on Wednesday:
• Senate bill to be rolled out Wednesday (Greenwire)
• Expanded Offshore Drilling Will Be Part of Senate Climate Bill, Says Lieberman (Greenwire)
• Key U.S. senator: climate bill progress impossible (AFP)
• Where things stand on the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill (Grist)
• Climate bill has new drilling protections: The two senators, who are going ahead and introducing the bill without their longtime ally GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), have tweaked the bill in a few ways to address concerns raised by the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (Washington Post)
• Rig Workers Tell of Harrowing Escape from Explosion, Fire:
• LISTEN: Rig Blast Survivor: 'I Thought I Was Going To Die' (NPR)
• Witness: 'Black rain' fell after oil rig exploded (Miami Herald)
• Rig Survivors Felt Coerced To Sign Waivers (NPR)
• The Blame Game Begins: Oil Co. Execs Blame Each Other on Capitol Hill:
• Oil Spill Hearings Kick Off the Blame Game (Mother Jones)
• Play Along At Home!: Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones Live-Tweets the BP Oil Spill Hearing on Capitol Hill (Mother Jones)
• Live-Blogging the Senate Hearing on Offshore Drilling (NY Times)
• BP, subcontractors: Spill is the other guy's fault (CNN>
• Oil execs brief Senate panels on spill (CNN)
• In the Gulf of Mexico, what went wrong with the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig? (Washington Post)
• Transocean: Rig Owner Had Rising Tally of Accidents
  (Wall St. Journal)
• For BP, a History of Spills and Safety Lapses (NY Times)
• Federal Minerals Management Service Blamed for Lax Oversight, To Be Split Into Two Agencies:
• Regulator Deferred to Oil Industry on Rig Safety (NY Times)
• U.S. agency lets oil industry write offshore drilling rules (McClatchy DC):
  
  The oil industry, not the federal agency that regulates it, plays a crucial role in writing the safety and environmental rules for offshore drilling, a role that critics say reflects cozy ties between an industry and its regulators that need to be snapped.
  ....
  The agency has a built-in conflict. It's responsible for regulating offshore drilling, but also for leasing tracts on the outer continental shelf and collecting royalties on the oil and gas they produce. The MMS generates more revenue for the federal Treasury than any other agency except the Internal Revenue Service.
• Federal regulators haven't kept up with oil drilling expansion: When the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and oil started gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, neither the oil companies nor their watchdogs in the Interior Department were ready.
• Salazar to split MMS into two agencies (Washington Post)
• Obama Seeks to Split Agency That Monitors Oil Drilling (NY Times)
• OP-ED: Sex & Drugs & the Spill: According to reports by Interior’s inspector general, abuses at the agency went beyond undue influence: there was “a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” — cocaine, sexual relationships with industry representatives, and more. (Paul Krugman, NY Times)
• BP Oil Spill Response: 'Obama's Katrina'?
• AP Investigation: Obama oil response aggressive as crisis unfolded (AP):
  While the Obama administration has faced second-guessing about the speed and effectiveness of some of its actions, a narrative pieced together by The Associated Press, based on documents, interviews and public statements, shows little resemblance to Katrina in either the characterization of the threat or the federal government's response.
• BP Oil Spill Update: Dome Fails, Dispersants Approved, 'Creative' Solutions To Stop Oil Gusher:
• BP mulls options after dome fails to cap Gulf oil leak (AFP)
• BP sprays more chemicals into main Gulf oil leak (AP)
• Is the BP Clean-Up Creating A Toxic Soup in the Gulf? (Mother Jones)
• Obama 'aggressively' seeks solution to oil spill: White House (AP)
• In one Gulf Coast town, disaster disrupts delicate harmony between fishing and oil: It's hardly unusual for people to enter into Faustian bargains with their surroundings - using and abusing the land and its resources to create wealth and comfort, while turning a blind eye to the cost. (Washington Post)
• Gulf Coast puts up last line of defense against oil spill: Authorities were on alert for a land, sea and air assault as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill headed toward land. (Miami Herald):
  
  Workers filled sandbags, shrimp boats deployed anti-oil booms, and helicopters and dredges were put on alert for a land, air and sea assault ahead of an oil slick that covers thousands of square miles and will be difficult to clean up if it gets into the fragile marshes that make up Louisiana's coast.
• What will oil in the Gulf of Mexico do to a hurricane?:
  
  From the time of the ancient Greeks to the days of the wooden ships and iron men, mariners dumped barrels of oil onto raging seas to calm them during critical moments of violent storms (Wyckoff, 1886.) Oil does indeed calm wind-driven waves, thanks to the reduction in surface tension of the water that oil causes...

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report...

• LA Times Editorial: Climate change is the true crisis (LA Times)
• Eyjafjallajokull Eruption Disruption Continues: Ash cloud closes Spanish airports (CNN)
• Romaine lettuce recall expands : Investigators have confirmed that the outbreak has sickened 19 people: 10 in Michigan, seven in Ohio and two in New York. Twelve of the 19 have been hospitalized, including three who developed a potentially life-threatening complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, the administration said. (CNN)
• China issues strict rules to meet emissions targets (AFP)
• Univ. of Va. "exploring options" on Cuccinelli climate change subpoena (Washington Post)
• Climate scientists decry 'political assaults' (SF Gate)
• Earth may be too hot for humans by 2300: study (AFP)
• Report: Climate change could render much of world uninhabitable (USA Today)

                 

Article Categories: Environment, Green News