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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Deadly heat wave in the Midwest; Deadly famine in Somalia; More American jobs in clean energy than in oil & gas; Meet America’s newest oil spill, now in Alaska (Thanks again, BP!) … PLUS: It’s the end of the line for NASA’s space shuttle program — Can America still do Big Things? … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Climate change ‘threatens peace’, UN official warns; Most of the U.S. could be energy self-sufficient; Judge denies BP request for White House emails; The true cost of gasoline? $13 a gallon; Polluted China plans carbon emissions trading scheme; Koch brothers declare war on offshore wind; OH Leads List of Top 20 States with Toxic Air; Can Bluefin Tuna Farms Work?; GAO: States Underreporting Violations of Drinking Water Standards; Fracking At Drinking Water Source for 80k in PA Raises Alarms; Staff Tells N.R.C. That U.S. Rules Need Overhaul After Fukushima; Japan Links More Cattle to Cesium-Tainted Feed; Mapping mercury fallout from coal-fired power plants … PLUS: It’s HOT! But Fox only talks about global warming when it’s snowing …
STORIES DISCUSSED IN TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Stupidity:
- It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Stupidity: Limbaugh Calls Heat Index a Liberal Government Conspiracy (Climate Progress)
- LISTEN: Denying Existence Of Record Heat Wave, Limbaugh Suggests The Heat Index Is A Government Conspiracy (Media Matters.org)
- Deadly Record Heatwave in Midwest Expands East:
- Blistering heat wave stressing nation’s power grid (AP)
- Outreach efforts help save lives in heat wave (USA Today)
- Active air conditioners send Midwest power use to all-time high (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
- Shock forecast: NOAA predicts heat index of 116 in Washington, D.C. Friday (Washington Post Capitol Weather Gang)
- Heat Wave Moves Into Eastern US (AP)
- As U.S. sizzles in summer heat, Seattle shivers (AP):
A weather man counted the minutes – yes, minutes – that the temperature has hit 80 degrees or higher. (He says 78 minutes, by the way.)
…
Another tweet: “MISSING: Hot, sunny summer. IF FOUND please return to Seattle as soon as possible. REWARD offered.” - Xcel Energy Equipment Failure Causes Power Outage in Hudson (Hudson Patch)
- Active Air Conditioners Send Midwest Power Use To All-Time High
(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) - Electricity Demand Soars in Mid-Atlantic States (NYT Green)
- Storm Warnings: Extreme Weather Is a Product of Climate Change: More violent and frequent storms, once merely a prediction of climate models, are now a matter of observation. (Scientific American)
- Extreme weather link ‘can no longer be ignored’: Scientists to end 20-year reluctance with study into global warming and exceptional weather events
- UN Declares Deadly Famine in Somalia:
- HOW TO HELP the Millions At Risk of Starvation in East Africa (USA Today)
- UN: Famine in Somalia Is Killing Tens of Thousands (Washington Post):
Famine in parts of southern Somalia has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly children, the United Nations said Wednesday in an official declaration of what aid officials describe as the worst humanitarian crisis in the troubled country in two decades.
- Eleven Million at Risk in Horn of Africa (IPS)
- Millions Facing Misery in Somalia Famine (AFP)
- Meet America’s newest oil spill, now in Alaska (Thanks, BP!)
- One of Many: BP Spills 2,100 to 4,200 Gallons of Oil in Arctic Tundra (Think Progress)
- BP pipeline leaks oily mixture onto Alaskan tundra (Reuters):
BP reported yet another pipeline leak at its Alaskan oilfields, frustrating the oil giant’s attempts to rebuild its reputation after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
- CANADA, too!: Alberta pipeline shut down after 1,300 barrels of crude oil leaked into swamp and creek (Washington Post)
- Environmental pollutants lurk long after they ‘disappear’ (PhysOrg)
- US Clean Energy Jobs Outstrip Oil & Gas Jobs:
- Report: More Americans have green jobs than oil or gas jobs (Christian Science Monitor):
Clean energy and other parts of the ‘clean economy’ account for 2 percent of US jobs, employing some 2.7 million Americans, according to a recent report.
…
“Clean” industries ranging from public mass-transit to green energy companies provide 2 percent of the jobs in the United States, according to the study, which was released last week. The number pales in comparison to sectors like health care, which accounts for 10.2 percent, but it is more than other key industries such as biosciences and oil and gas. - US Renewables Outstrip Nuclear Output:
- U.S. Renewable Energy Production Has Surpassed Nuclear (Think Progress Green)
- EIA Report: Renewables Surpass Nuclear Output (Renewable Energy World):
According to the most recent issue of the “Monthly Energy Review” by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), renewable energy has passed a milestone as domestic production is now greater than that of nuclear power and is closing in on oil.
- End of the Line: NASA’s Space Shuttle Program Ends — Can America Still Do Big Things?:
- LISTEN: President John F. Kennedy’s “Moon Shot” Speech (The History Place)
- Transcript of JFK “Moon Shot” Speech (The History Place)
- Climate change ‘threatens peace’, UN official warns (BBC):
Climate change poses a major threat to future peace and security, a senior UN official has warned.
Achim Steiner from the UN Environment Programme said climate change would also “exponentially” increase the scale of natural disasters. His comments followed a UN declaration of famine in parts of Somalia.
- Most of the U.S. could be energy self-sufficient (Grist)
- Judge denies BP request for emails by former Obama adviser on White House oil spill response (Washington Post):
A lawyer for the oil giant had argued that emails by Carol Browner, Obama’s former adviser on energy and climate matters, and three other officials in the Executive Office of the President could shed light on the White House’s role in estimating the rate of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from the company’s blown-out well.
- The true cost of gasoline? $13 a gallon (Grist)
- Polluted China plans carbon emissions trading scheme (AFP):
China will introduce a pilot scheme for carbon emissions trading and gradually develop a national market as the world’s largest polluter seeks to reduce emissions and save energy, state media said.
China will promote the market’s development through “punitive” electricity tariffs on power-intensive industries and other new policies, Xie Zhenhua, a top climate official, was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.
- Billionaire Koch brothers declare war on offshore wind (Grist) [emphasis added]:
The war over America’s coastal-energy future has officially begun, and the result could determine whether we see wind turbines or catastrophic oil spills along our coastlines in coming years.
The opening salvo came in early July, when everyone’s favorite climate-hating, fossil-fuel-loving industrialist villains, the Koch brothers, released a so-called “cost-benefit analysis” of New Jersey offshore wind development plans through their front group Americans for Prosperity.
…
Topping the report’s list of misrepresented facts are the jobs benefits. In fact, forget about misrepresentation; the report actually failed to represent those benefits altogether. - OH Leads List of Top 20 States with Toxic Air (Reuters):
People living in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida are most at risk in the United States from toxic emissions spewing from coal and oil-fired power plants, two leading American environmental groups said in a report on Wednesday.
- Can Bluefin Tuna Farms Work? (LA Times):
In pens off Baja, an Icelandic company is raising the fish, a delicacy whose numbers have plummeted in recent years. It hopes to please consumers and environmentalists too.
- Sec. Clinton Takes ‘Clean Cookstove’ Drive to India (Reuters):
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed one of her simplest but potentially most transformative diplomatic priorities in India on
Wednesday: clean cooking stoves. - GAO: States Underreporting Violations of Drinking Water Standards (The Hill):
A government report released Tuesday says states are underreporting violations of federal drinking-water standards, preventing the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing rules aimed at protecting public health.
- Fracking At Drinking Water Source for 80k in PA Raises Alarms (SolveClimate):
Documents and interviews reveal that one Pennsylvania water utility has already leased its watershed to gas drillers – and many others are being courted.
- Staff Tells N.R.C. That U.S. Rules Need Overhaul After Fukushima (Green/NYT)
- Japan Links More Cattle to Cesium-Tainted Feed (Wall St. Journal)
- Study Maps Mercury Fallout From Indianapolis Power Plant (Louisville Courier-Journal):
An Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis study has found mercury contamination in soil downwind from a coal-fired power plant in Indianapolis, supporting the notion of localized mercury hot spots.
- WATCH: It’s Hot! But Fox Only Talks About Global Warming When It’s Snowing (Media Matters.org):
With an unusually intense heat wave sweeping the nation, Fox News has been silent on global warming, which scientists say makes heat waves like this one more likely. By contrast, Fox News repeatedly used winter storms to mock global warming — one of several problems with Fox’s coverage of climate change highlighted in a new mini-documentary by Media Matters Studios…
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
Fukushima is getting worse. The MSM witchcraft of ignoring it to make it go away does not seem to work does it?
Hey Brad, that’s my water supply! Just finished a big glass of iced tea made with that Beaver Run water… mmmmm, nothing like a nice nitecap of fracking fluid before bed?