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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: BP’s relief well delayed — again; Authorities scramble to recall tainted eggs; Interior Dept. enforces the law — for a change … PLUS: Predicting today’s extreme weather — back in 2007 … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
8/19/2010
‘Green News Report’ – August 19, 2010 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – August 19, 2010 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): American Petroleum Institute’s chief economist admits taxes on oil industry can create millions of jobs; Why OPEC doesn’t mind low oil prices; Why Antarctic sea ice is growing in a warmer world; Old-style coal plants expanding across U.S.; MSHA: Massey didn’t report accidents at WV mine; Oil group, climate bill supporters clash in summer campaigns; Soaring temps cause mass coral killing in Indonesia: study; MI oil spill and the tar sands name game; Lake Mead at lowest level since 1956 …PLUS: Columnist: “Thank God global warming is a hoax!!” …
STORIES DISCUSSED IN TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Total (Egg) Recall:
- Egg recall renews questions on battling salmonella (USA Today):
This is old hat to egg producers in Sweden and Denmark, which virtually eliminated salmonella from all poultry beginning in the 1970s. They tested flocks and if any came up positive, they would be slaughtered, says Lars Plym Forshell of Sweden’s National Food Administration. “In the early days, farmers got 100% compensation” from the government for flocks they lost. Today, because only two or three flocks a year need to be destroyed, it’s covered by insurance.
American experts say such draconian programs don’t make sense.
- Egg recall grows to 380 million, hundreds may be sick (CNN)
- Nationwide Recall of Eggs Linked to Salmonella Expanded: More than 250 people sickened by germ as Iowa company recalls 380 million eggs (Bloomberg):
[E]ggs were distributed to wholesalers and food service companies nationwide under multiple brand names: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps.
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The recall covers eggs in their shells packed between May 16 and Aug. 13. They come in cartons ranging from six to 18 eggs and are marked with plant numbers P-1026, P-1413 and P-1946. The eggs should be returned for a refund. - The Great Global ‘Wiggy Weather Freakout’ of 2010 — As Predicted by the IPCC in 2007, Now Coming To A Country Near You
- Pakistan — a Sad New Benchmark in Climate-Related Disasters: Devastating flooding that has swamped one-fifth of Pakistan and left millions homeless is likely the worst natural disaster to date attributable to climate change, U.N. officials and climatologists are now openly saying. (ClimateWire)
- Senator Kerry visits flood-hit Pakistan (Raw Story)
- Weather shifts behind disasters need ‘urgent’ probe: UN (AFP):
Climate scientists must urgently look into changes in atmospheric currents linked to devastating floods in Pakistan and wildfires in Russia, UN climate and weather bodies said on Wednesday. Ghassem Asrar, director of the World Climate Research Programme, told AFP that changes, known as blocking episodes, can prevent humidity or hot weather dispersing.
That intensified heavy rain or heatwaves and locked them over an area, he explained, potentially with a growing impact on extreme weather events that scientists expect to happen more frequently with global warming.
- Long hot summer of fire and floods fit predictions (AP):
The 2007 IPCC report predicted a doubling of disastrous droughts in Russia this century and cited studies foreseeing catastrophic fires during dry years. It also said Russia would suffer large crop losses.
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The 2007 IPCC report said rains have grown heavier for 40 years over north Pakistan and predicted greater flooding this century in south Asia’s monsoon region.
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China is witnessing its worst floods in decades … The IPCC reported in 2007 that rains had increased in northwest China by up to 33 percent since 1961, and floods nationwide had increased sevenfold since the 1950s. It predicted still more frequent flooding this century.
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In the Arctic Ocean itself, the summer melt of the vast ice cap has reached unprecedented proportions. Satellite data show the ocean area covered by ice last month was the second-lowest ever recorded for July. - Analysis: Pakistan floods, Russia heat fit climate trend: Devastating floods in Pakistan and Russia’s heatwave match predictions of extremes caused by global warming even though it is impossible to blame mankind for single severe weather events, scientists say. (Reuters)
- Climate Extremes: Beyond Loaded Dice (NYT Dot Earth)
- Update: BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf:
- BP well kill delayed until second week of September (Raw Story)
- WATCH: Allen: Bottom kill could be complete by week after Labor Day(CNN)
- BP “bottom-kill” on Gulf well to be early September: Allen (Reuters)
- Relief well still on hold, timeline unknown (Houston Chronicle)
- Oil Plumes May Be More Toxic Than Thought, Scientists Warn (NYT Green):
David Naar, an oceanographer with the University of South Florida who took part in the study, said the results were disturbing but that it was too early to conclude that the oil plumes – which are at the level of parts per billion in the water, and invisible to the naked eye – are causing widespread ecological damage.
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The dispersed oil does not appear to pose a risk of contamination to seafood in gulf waters that have been reopened to fishing and shrimping, Dr. Short said. “As far as the safety of seafood, I’d say we have nothing to worry about,” he said. “The government’s been very aggressive in testing seafood to make sure it’s O.K.” - BP’s Gulf oil waste being dumped on communities of color (Grist)
- Seafood inspection doesn’t pass some fishermen’s smell test
- First Spill Studies Show Gulf Kids Are At Risk (NPR)
- Science Panel Investigates Firefighting Preceding BP Oil Spill (Center for Public Integrity)
- Reports focus on lingering effects of Gulf oil spill (CNN)
- Univ. of Georgia scientists: Gulf oil not gone, 80% remains (AP)
- Interior ends environmental review waivers for deepwater projects (The Hill)
- Gov’t Pledges to Actually Do Its Job on Regulating Offshore Drilling (Mother Jones)
- More environmental review planned for oil exploration and drilling (NOLA.com)
- Minerals Service Had a Mandate to Produce Results
- U.S. panel eyes more self-regulation for oil: The White House oil spill commission could push for the oil industry to create a self-regulating agency that would fill a gap in the sector’s oversight exposed by BP’s massive oil spill (Reuters)
- AP poll: BP image recovering from spill, still low (AP)
- Climate Change Deniers, And Who’s Really Killing U.S. Economic Growth:
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- Why Antarctic Sea Ice Is Growing in a Warmer World: Models solve mystery, but suggest South Pole sea ice melt (National Geographic):
Experts have cracked the mystery of why some ice has grown despite warming-but find the trend may rapidly reverse, a new study says.
The new analyses are based on climate models and sea-surface temperature and precipitation observations from 1950 to 2009. They show that, in the 20th century, ocean warming boosted precipitation in the upper atmosphere over the Antarctic region, which fell as snow.
More snow made the top layers of the ocean less salty and thus less dense. These layers became more stable, preventing warm, density-driven currents in the deep ocean from rising and melting sea ice.
- Old-Style Coal Plants Expanding Across U.S.: Utilities across the country are building dozens of old-style coal plants that will cement the industry’s standing as the largest industrial source of climate-changing gases for years to come. (AP)
- MSHA: Massey didn’t report accidents at W.Va. mine: Government investigators have cited Massey Energy for failing to report more than 20 accidents at its Upper Big Branch coal mine in the two years before an April explosion killed 29 miners there, according to documents released by the Mine Safety and Health Administration on Tuesday. (Seattle Times)
- Oil Group, Climate Bill Supporters Clash in Summer Campaigns (Greenwire):
The [American Petroleum Institute] oil and natural gas industry’s biggest influence group will launch a major lobbying campaign next month, staging rallies and running advertisements tying the sector to job creation and opposing tax changes and tougher drilling regulations.
- American Petroleum Institute’s Chief Economist Admits Taxes On Oil Industry Can Create Millions Of Jobs (Wonk Room):
Felmy recognized that the report concluded that you would get four times as many clean energy jobs as oil jobs from the same investment, because “green technology is more labor-intensive and less capital-intensive.” He admitted that if you invest money in clean energy instead of oil and gas:
“I have no doubts you can get a lot more jobs.”
- Soaring Temps Cause Mass Coral Killing in Indonesia: Study: A dramatic spike in ocean temperatures off Indonesia’s Aceh province has killed large areas of coral and scientists fear the event could be much larger than first thought and one of the worst in the region’s history. (Reuters)
- Why OPEC Doesn’t Mind Low Oil Prices (The Atlantic):
OPEC is more concerned about long-term market share than they are about short-term price gains. Therefore with lower oil prices, what you’re actually doing is raising the entry barrier for alternative fuels. I speak with OPEC regularly, and this is consistently their main concern is about the political shift of the sentiment in the U.S. especially towards alternative fuels. The cheaper you make OPEC oil, the harder you make it to bring alternative fuels to bring on.
- Michigan Oil Spill: The Tar Sands Name Game (and Why It Matters) (On Earth Magazine):
[L]inguistic gymnastics around the definition of tar sands have a long history. Industry officials have sought to avoid the increasingly negative connotations of tar sands extraction, which has a devastating effect on boreal forests and produces huge carbon emissions. Mogerman notes the irony of a company trying to deny the existence of the product that is its “bread and butter”…
- Lake Mead At Lowest Level Since 1956: Water Users Conserving, Hoping For Rain Next Year: With the reservoir having dropped 10 feet since last summer, water managers and consumers are scrambling to conserve, hoping to avoid severe cutbacks. Arizona farmers especially are at risk. Eventually, all water consuming industries and even residential property values could be. (Treehugger)
- Columnist: Thank God global warming is a hoax (SF Gate):
I am delighted to remember that hardcore science has lied, misguided, misnomered and whatever else weird science does to confuse the world about the real impact humanity has had on global ecosystems. All those thousands of highly trained scientists educated at the finest universities, learning the most difficult and fraught information of our age, all in universal agreement that humankind’s actions directly affect climate change, and they are all totally full of it because they are clearly in cahoots with Nazi Liberal Jesus, the solar panel manufacturers and the hippies who want me to compost my KFC Double Down wrapper.
I am delighted to be reassured by the fringe right wing that the piles of dead bodies, millions of lost homes, and even the very sun itself are part of a vast conspiracy, a plot to form an evil one-world government, a lefty liberal charade even in places that don’t understand or care what the hell a liberal is. See? Do you understand how powerful the lie? Amazing.
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