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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: In our exclusive leaked audio, climate denial kingpin billionaire David Koch calls NJ’s Chris Christie “my kind of guy” and reveals they met privately before the Governor pulled out of a major greenhouse gas initiative; Wednesday’s GOP debate goes from science to fiction; Gov. Perry’s TX is now the hottest state ever on record! PLUS: The planet is still not listening to Republicans … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Skeptical Science Wins Award for Demolishing Denier Myths; Google Details Electricity Usage of Its Data Centers; Bankrupt Solar Company Solyndra Raided by F.B.I.; Solar PV systems to double on Americans homes by 2016; BP removes tar balls in Alabama; Nobel Winners Call On Obama to Reject Keystone XL Pipeline; Attack of the Monsanto Superinsects; Policing Your Power-Hungry Appliances; Is Obama’s reluctance to mention climate change motivated by a false assumption about public opinion?… PLUS: Climate Change: An Issue This Critical Demands at Least 45 Seconds of Real, Concentrated Panic Each Week …
STORIES DISCUSSED IN TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Lou Dobbs Lies About Climate Science:
- Lou Dobbs Calls Human-Caused Global Warming A “Largely Democratic Belief” (Media Matters.org)
- Politifact: Do scientists disagree about global warming? [No.] (Politifact)
- Extreme Weather in 2011 Is Extremely Extreme:
- Texas sets record for hottest summer in US: Oklahoma Dust Bowl days fall to third-highest; South’s drought grows more dire (MSNBC):
Texas just finished the hottest June through August on record for any state in the U.S., weather officials said Thursday.
…The records were announced as raging wildfires and scorching heat continued across the South over the past week, adding to the human, economic and agricultural toll of a historic drought that climatologists said was only growing more dire. - Flooding leads to evacuations of 100,000 in PA (AP)
- 3 dead as remnants of Lee trigger historic flooding across Northeast (CNN)
- Hershey, Pa., zoo euthanizes drowning bison (USA Today)
- Texas Pleads for Help as Fires Sear State (Los Angeles Times)
- A Hidden Factor Behind Losses in Texas Fires (NYT Dot Earth)
- Six of the 10 largest wildfires in Texas history occurred in 2011
- Texas has been fighting wildfires for 295 days, since 11/15/2010
- VIDEO: This is how fast wildfire spreads (YouTube)
- U.S. Gulf Crudes Fluctuate as Tropical Storm Whips Mexican Rigs (Bloomberg)
- Economic Impact Of Texas Drought Could Be Greater Than Cost From Irene (Think Progress Green):
[T]he cost of the Texas drought, which climate change pushed to extremes, may be greater economic disaster. Earlier this month, Texas Agrilife Extension Service estimated losses to be at $5.2 billion – already greater than the $4.1 billion of losses from the 2006 drought. “This drought is just strangling our agricultural economy,” professor Travis Miller, of Texas A&M University’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. Losses, told TIME Magazine.
- Atmospheric Forces Conspire to Make 2011 a Wild Year (Live Science)
- Politifact: Do scientists disagree about global warming? [No.] (Politifact)
- Conservative, white men most likely to be climate change sceptics, study shows (Guardian UK):
The demographic was more than twice as likely than other adults to say the media exaggerated seriousness of climate change.
- EXCLUSIVE: Leaked Audio Tapes From the Koch Brothers’ Secret Seminar Show Chris Christie Withdrew from Greenhouse Gas Agreement AFTER Meeting with David Koch:
- ‘Inside the Koch Brothers 2011 Summer Seminar’: Part 2 of My 2-Part Exclusive at MOTHER JONES (The BRAD BLOG)
David Koch, introducing Christie: Five months ago we met in my New York City office and spoke “” just the two of us “” for about two hours on his objectives and successes in correcting many of the most serious problems of the New Jersey state government. At the end of our conversation, I said to myself, “I’m really impressed and inspired by this man. He is my kind of guy.”
…
Another example of Governor Christie’s commitment to the free enterprise system is that only a few weeks ago he announced that New Jersey would be withdrawing from the [Regional] Greenhouse Gas Initiative which is a [cheers and applause], which would have raised energy costs, reduced economic growth and led to very little, if any, benefit for the environment. [A ‘boo’ is heard.] - Part 2 of Our Koch Exclusive Brings Political Firestorms to Chris Christie’s New Jersey (The BRAD BLOG)
- NJ Sen. Diane Allen blames Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative for Ocean Spray’s pending departure from Bordentown facility: FALSE (Politifact) [emphasis added]:
Across the 10-state region within the RGGI, the emissions cap accounted for between 0.24 and 0.61 percent of average residential electricity bills in 2010, according to a fact sheet prepared by RGGI. That impact represents 46 extra cents per month for a typical household’s electricity usage, according to the RGGI.
- Gov. Christie quit RGGI pact after secret meetings with oil billionaires (Press of Atlantic City)
- Christie Stunner: NJ Gov Met With Pollutocrat Koch Before Pulling Out of Successful Carbon Pollution Reduction Program (Climate Progress)
- FULL VIDEO: Republican, GOP Reagan Library Debate September 7, 2011 (LeftCoastRebel)
- Huntsman Warns That GOP Can’t Win the White House by Denying Climate Science (NY Times)
- Perry Over His Head On Climate Change (Howard Fineman, Huffington Post Green) [emphasis added]:
“Galileo was outnumbered for a spell!” he declared. He got the analogy exactly wrong. Galileo was the scientist; the church and its allies, who knew nothing about the scientific method, were lined up against him. He never answered the question about which scientists he had consulted. He suddenly looked like the guy Karl Rove says he is, “a guy who only cares about soundbites.”
- Rick Perry: The EPA ‘Won’t Know What Hit ‘Em’ (Climate Progress)
- Rick Perry says more and more scientists are questioning global warming: FALSE (Politifact)
- For EPA regulations, benefits consistently exceed costs (Climate Progress)
- Obama Can’t Catch A Break On Oil (Grist):
“The figure reflects a huge surge in U.S. oil drilling, up nearly 60 percent in the past year and the highest total since at least 1987, when oil services company Baker Hughes Inc. began keeping track,” notes the WSJ.
- Obama pushes nuclear energy to boost climate bill (AP)
- Bad science, the echo chamber, and peer review. How the climate skeptics thrive (LA Times)
- Analysis: A Debate Arises on Job Creation and Environment (NY Times)
- Conservative Media Declare That Solar Power “Doesn’t Work” (Media Matters.org)
- In The Future, The Only Jobs Left Will Be Green (Climate Progress)
- Surprising Areas See Growth In Green Jobs (NPR):
When you think about Green Energy and its jobs, Albany, N.Y., probably wouldn’t be the first city that pops into your head. But according to a report, the upstate New York region has the highest concentration of green jobs in the country. Another surprising area in the top 10: Cleveland and northeast Ohio.
- 2.7 million jobs across the clean economy outnumber fossil fuel jobs (Brookings Institute)
- For every million dollars spent, 16.7 green jobs are created vs. 5.3 jobs in fossil fuels (UMass Political Economy Institute) [pdf]
- What The Media Won’t “” Or Can’t “” Tell You About The Jobs Crisis (Talking Points Memo)
- Oil Industry Report Outlines How to Create Temporary Jobs While Permanently Destroying the Climate (Climate Progress)
- Key Source Disputes Misleading NY Times Green Jobs Story: ‘It’s Like the Facts Were Misstated … to Put Forward an Agenda’ (Climate Progress)
- Arctic Death Spiral Continues: Sea Ice Volume Hits Record Low for Second Straight Year (Climate Progress)
- Total Arctic sea ice at record low in 2010: study (Reuters):
The minimum summertime volume of Arctic sea ice fell to a record low last year, researchers said in a study to be published shortly, suggesting that thinning of the ice had outweighed a recovery in area.
The study estimated last year broke the previous, 2007 record for the minimum volume of ice, which is calculated from a combination of sea ice area and thickness.
- Experts drill Arctic ice to fathom speed of melt (Reuters)
- Scientists to track acidification in Arctic Ocean (Reuters)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- Skeptical Science Wins Award for Demolishing Denier Myths (Climate Progress):
John Cook, founder of the blog Skeptical Science, has won the New South Wales Government Eureka Prize for Advancement of Climate Change Knowledge. It is “awarded to an Australian individual, group or organisation for communication that motivates action to reduce the impacts of climate change.”
I know what you’re thinking “” there’s an English-speaking government that awards prizes for advancing climate change knowledge “” let’s move there! But there’s no need to move “” the American government’s lack of climate knowledge means we’ll have Australia’s climate soon enough!
- Google Details Electricity Usage of Its Data Centers (NY Times):
Though the electricity figure may seem large, the company asserts that the world is using less energy as a result of the billions of operations carried out in Google data centers. Google says people should consider things like the amount of gasoline saved when someone conducts a Google search rather than, say, driving to the library. “They look big in the small context,” Urs Hoelzle, Google’s senior vice president of technical infrastructure, said in an interview.
- Bankrupt Solar Company Solyndra Raided by F.B.I. (NY Times):
The search was part of an investigation into $527 million worth of loans the company received from the Treasury Department that were guaranteed by the Department of Energy under a highly touted federal stimulus program.
“The F.B.I. is here. We don’t know the specifics,” said David Miller, a Solyndra spokesman. “It is in connection with the loan guarantee, but other than that we don’t know.”
- Solar Comes of Age: SolarCity to Double PV Systems on Americans Homes by 2016 (Climate Progress)
- BP removes tar balls in Alabama (AP):
BP workers used fishing nets to scoop tar balls off Alabama’s Gulf Coast beaches yesterday after the sands were fouled by gooey, dark gobs churned up by heavy surf from tropical system Lee.
- Interior Employee Set Off Inquiry on Polar Scientist, Official Says (NYT Green)
- Nobel Winners Call On Obama to Reject Keystone XL Pipeline (Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones)
- Attack of the Monsanto Superinsects (Mother Jones)
- Policing Your Power-Hungry Appliances (NY Times)
- Polling Expert: Is Obama’s Reluctance to Mention Climate Change Motivated by a False Assumption About Public Opinion? (Climate Progress)
- The Onion on Climate Change: An Issue This Critical Demands at Least 45 Seconds of Real, Concentrated Panic Each Week (The Onion):
Indeed, if there was ever a time when a desperate call to take action against global warming should race through our heads as we lie in bed and stare at the ceiling, that time is now.
Many well-intentioned people will take 20 seconds out of their week to consider the consequences of the lifestyle they’ve chosen, perhaps contemplating how their reliance on fossil fuels has contributed to the rapid melting of the Arctic ice cap. But if progress is what we truly want, 20 seconds is simply not enough. Not by a long shot. An issue this critical demands at least 45 seconds to a solid minute of real, concentrated panic.
More on Solyndra ““ The next move
http://www.zerohedge.com/contri...0%93-next-move
Solyndra, Inc.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...tm#toc15203_23
Solyndra and The DOE Loan Guarantee Program (Lez jus sweep er under da rug)
energycommerce.house.gov/hearings/hearingdetail.aspx?NewsID=8897
Hints of a bubble in green-tech IPOs
news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10449245-54.html
Here’s a great analysis of the global market forces at work in the solar industry, with a chart showing the astronomical subsidies the Chinese have given their solar industry, in comparison to the anemic US:
Are the Chinese Using Predatory Pricing to Knock America Out of Solar Manufacturing?
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2...pricing-solar/
Of course, the oil industry receives $4 BILLION in permanent subsidies and tax breaks from U.S. taxpayers EVERY YEAR, and has been receiving taxpayer subsidies since 1916. (that does not include the cost of U.S. military defense and support of the oil industry around the world)
The entire U.S. nuclear industry exists only because of taxpayer loan guarantees, because Wall Street refuses to take the financial risk. And that’s even after Congress made sure to exempt the U.S. nuclear industry from all liability in the event of a nuclear accident, meaning that the U.S. taxpayer foots the entire bill when something goes wrong.
If the CEO of Solyndra mislead the Dept. of Energy, [on edit, it should go without saying that if there was any criminal wrongdoing] then that should be prosecuted, but it doesn’t follow logically that any alleged misdeeds are an indictment of the solar industry or the entire clean energy industry.
Unless, of course, you’re not interested in the facts or in reality and are only interested in pushing the interests of the fossil fuel industry and the climate change denial industry.