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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Arsenic and other tasty toxins contaminate groundwater near coal plants; Use less gas, pay more!; Bizarre meltdown at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; BP gets a license to drill — again — in the Gulf of Mexico; Solar surges in 2011; PLUS: “Human oil spill” outside House Speaker John Boehner’s office … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 12/15/2011

‘Green News Report’ – December 15, 2011  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – December 15, 2011  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): What the Frack?: Add Quakes to Natural Gas Rush; Wisconsin Mine Plan Prompts Backlash; Exxon Mobil predicts surge in hybrid vehicles; Putting US Farmland on a Fertilizer Diet; Killing of Wolves From Air Draws Fire … PLUS: Facebook Unfriends Coal, Partners with Greenpeace for Clean Energy Future … and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED IN TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• Rush Limbaugh Punks Fake “Conservatives”:
• Limbaugh: “Conservatives Know That The Whole Story Of Manmade Global Warming Is A Hoax” (Media Matters)
• The GOP’s Crackpot Agenda (Rolling Stone)
• Heads in the Sand: Warning: “Climate change is occurring … and poses significant risks to humans and the environment,” reports the National Academy of Sciences. As climate-change science moves in one direction, Republicans in Congress are moving in another. Why?
  (National Journal) [emphasis added]:
  Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, says there’s no question that the influence of his group and others like it has been instrumental in the rise of Republican candidates who question or deny climate science. “If you look at where the situation was three years ago and where it is today, there’s been a dramatic turnaround. Most of these candidates have figured out that the science has become political,” he said.
  …
  Groups like Americans for Prosperity have done it.“
• Americans Pay Record Amount for Gas in 2011:
• U.S. drivers spend record amount on gasoline in 2011 (LA Times):
  Despite lower demand, more than $448 billion has been paid so far for fuel – $100 billion more than in 2010. Consistently high oil prices are blamed.
• Economy, gas prices make Americans drive less (USA Today)

Despite lower demand, more than $448 billion has been paid so far for fuel – $100 billion more than in 2010. Consistently high oil prices are blamed.

• OPEC opts to increase its level of output: (NY Times):
  The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on Wednesday to increase its production target for the first time in three years, a move that appeared to signal that Saudi Arabia and Iran had put aside their recent differences on oil policy, at least temporarily.
• BP Gets License to Drill in the Gulf Again:
• BP Awarded $27 Million in Leases for Gulf Oil, Gas Exploration (National Journal):
  “This marks a milestone with respect to the greatest overhaul in the America’s history,” [Interior Secretary Ken] Salazar said of the offshore-drilling safety reforms and changes implemented by Interior since the April 2010 explosion of a BP well in the Gulf led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. “We believe we can move forward with oil and gas development.”
• Is it safe to drill? Learn what new oil-spill report says (AP):
  BP and the oil industry drilling in the Gulf of Mexico lacked the proper safety attitude to handle the large risks of deepwater drilling, leading to the many bad decisions behind the nation’s worst offshore spill, a panel of expert engineers said today.
• Engineering experts hit safety culture in BP spill (Business Week) [emphasis added]:
  The authors portray a deficient safety culture that led BP to rely on blowout preventers as equipment that just couldn’t fail — even though there were well-documented failures of the devices.
• Interior Secy says lease sale shows interest in Gulf (Reuters):
  U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Wednesday that the results of the first offshore oil and gas lease sale held since the last year’s BP oil spill demonstrate that industry is still interested in drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Oil companies bid $712 million for Gulf leases (Summit County Voice)
• Environmentalists’ suit fails to block oil lease sale in Gulf of Mexico (USA Today)
• ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil Big Spenders In Gulf Oil Lease Sale: ConocoPhillips stole the show at Wednesday’s Gulf of Mexico Lease sale, with the largest bid an oil company has ever made for a single tract of Gulf real estate. (Int’l Business Times)
• Report Seeks Far Tighter Safety System for Oil Drilling (NYT Green)
• BP’s New License to Drill (Mother Jones)
• U.S. Offshore Drillers Need New Safety Approach: Panel (Reuters)
• Solar Industry Surges in 2011:
• Gigawatt Power: US Solar Industry Is Booming (Think Progress Green) [emphasis added]:
  American solar deployment is growing at a record rate, with over 1000 megawatts of domestic solar installations in 2011.
  …
  More domestic solar installations were completed in the third quarter of this year than during all of 2009 according to a report by GTM Research.
• Solar industry reports record third-quarter growth (LA Times) [emphasis added]:
  “The U.S. solar industry is on a roll, with unprecedented growth in 2011,” said Rhone Resch, chief executive of the solar group.
  …
  The bulk of those third-quarter installations were in California… which has over 25,000 solar-related jobs.
• Solar Power Much Cheaper to Produce Than Most Analysts Realize, Study Finds (Climate Progress)
• Arsenic & Other Tasty Toxins Contaminate at Coal-Fired Power Plants:
• Coal ash taints 20 U.S. sites – report (Reuters):
  Toxic contamination from coal ash, a waste product of coal-fired power plants, has been detected in ground water and soil at 20 sites in 10 U.S. states, an environmental watchdog group reported on Tuesday.

  These sites are the latest to contribute to a total of 157 identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the independent Environmental Integrity Project, which released the report.

• READ the Report: 20 Additional Toxic Coal Ash Contamination Sites Found in 10 States (Environmental Integrity Project):
  Today EIP also released a letter to Congress from thousands of residents near coal ash dump sites in 27 states pleading for proper federal oversight – even as some in Congress are urging that federal oversight to clean up toxic coal ash pollution be relaxed and authority to enforce meaningful standards be eliminated.
• Coal Ash Dams Are A Major Hazard Coal-State Politicians Want To Ignore (Huffington Post Green) [emphasis added]:
  A new report released Tuesday shows coal ash’s harmful environmental effects are more widespread than previously understood.

  Meanwhile, a bill proposed by a bipartisan coalition of coal-state senators would strip away the federal government’s power to do anything about it.

• Bizarre Meltdown (or Office Politics) at Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
• Nuke agency chief faces stunning public rebuke (AP):
  Several lawmakers said they had trouble believing what they were hearing – or even that the session was called at all.

  “I feel like I’m sitting here trying to referee a fight,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the committee’s senior Democrat. “I haven’t done that since my kids were tiny.”

• Leader of Nuclear Agency Hears Litany of Objections (NY Times):
  [S]ome commissioners have clashed with Dr. Jaczko on the issue of how promptly the American nuclear industry should have to make improvements in response to the triple meltdown in Japan in March and the speed with which he closed out his agency’s evaluation of the Energy Department’s proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert.
• Republicans Intensify Attacks on the Nuclear Safety Chief (The Nation) [emphasis added]:
  If there was any doubt that an imbroglio around the leadership of Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, would be used to try to force his ouster from that agency, a Wednesday hearing before a House panel removed it.
  …
  [I[t’s also clear that the nuclear industry is using the conflict to attempt to neutralize or remove Jaczko from the NRC, where he has been a consistent advocate for tighter safety controls, particularly after the catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. As we detailed Monday, on several key votes Jaczko has been the lone voice for tougher regulations, in opposition to the other four members.
• WATCH: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Reform, Commissioners Panel: (C-SPAN_:
  Nuclear Regulatory Commission commissioners testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about recent allegations of mismanagement directed at Commission Chair Greg Jaczko. The commissioners accused the chair of abusive management practices that undermined the agency’s mission. Chair Jaczko denied those charges, saying he has no plans to resign.
• NRC ‘Coup’ Leader, Bill Magwood, Consulted For Fukushima Parent Company (Huffington Post Green) [emphasis added]:
  Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) released a letter signed by Magwood and three other commissioners attacking the panel’s chairman, Gregory Jaczko, setting off a firestorm in the energy industry. Issa and the four commissioners framed the dispute as personal and managerial, but emails released by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) show a political and ideological battle underway over post-Fukushima safety standards.
• Report: Regulatory Meltdown: How Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners Conspried to Delay and Weaken Nuclear Reactor Safety in the Wake of Fukushima (Office of Rep. Ed Markey, D-MA)
• Gregory Jaczko, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair, Under Assault By Pro-Industry Panel Members (Huffington Post Green)
• Gregory Jaczko, NRC Chairman, Says Nuclear Industry Must Heed Lesson Of Japan (Huffington Post Green):
  The nation’s nuclear safety chief said Tuesday he is worried that U.S. nuclear plant operators have become complacent, just nine months after the nuclear disaster in Japan… [saying] recent instances of human error and other problems have endangered workers and threatened safety at a handful of the 65 nuclear power plants in the United States.
  …
  The NRC has conducted a greater number of special inspections this year – 20 so far – than at any point in recent memory, Jaczko said. The inspections were all prompted by site-specific concerns, but could indicate broader problems, Jaczko said.
• ‘Human Oil Spill’ Protesting Keystone XL Pipeline Outside Speaker Boehner’s Office:
• VIDEO: Keystone XL Pipeline “Human Oil Spill” Outside John Boehner’s Office (Ohio State Univ.’s The Pulse, and 350.org)
• Pipeline Protesters Open the Spigot on Boehner (Ohio State Univ.’s The Pulse)
• Occupy & 350.org Stage “Human Oil Spill” at John Boehner’s Office (Treehugger)
• Defining National Interest – Can the State Department Handle the Responsibility? (Ohio State Univ.’s The Pulse)
• OP-ED: Keystone Claptrap (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
  Mr. Boehner calls Mr. Obama’s delay “theatrics” and described the project as a “no brainer” that will create “tens of thousands” of jobs immediately. This is a fairy tale, implying not only short-term but permanent benefits. The pipeline company, TransCanada, says the project could create 6,500 construction jobs annually, most of them temporary.

  The State Department, the lead federal agency on the project, also estimates 6,500 temporary jobs. And the only independent study, conducted by Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute, concludes that it may generate no more than 50 permanent jobs when the work is done.

• Congress Cannot Accelerate Keystone Decision: State Department (Reuters)

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…

• What the Frack?: Add Quakes to Rumblings Over Natural Gas Rush (NYT Green)
• First Gulf Coast Restoration Projects Selected for BP $1 Billion (Environment News Service)
• Wisconsin Mine Plan Prompts Backlash: (Wall St. Journal):
  Plans to develop an open-pit iron mine in northwestern Wisconsin are the latest flash point in a growing national debate that weighs the prospect of new jobs against concern about environmental damage.
• Exxon Mobil predicts surge in hybrid vehicles (Wall St. Journal) [emphasis added]:
  One out of every two cars will be either hybrids or some other alternative-fuel vehicle by 2040, Exxon Mobil predicted Thursday. But the largest publicly traded oil company also makes clear that oil will remain king of the energy world for many years.
  …
  By 2040, 90 percent of the world’s transportation will still run on oil-based fuels, Irving, Texas-based Exxon said. And drillers will find more than enough oil to satisfy a 25-percent jump in global fuel consumption. At current demand levels, Exxon estimated that the world has enough oil to last 100 years.
• Putting US Farmland on a Fertilizer Diet: (NPR):
  The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a document yesterday that got no attention on the nightly news, or almost anywhere, really. Its title, I’m sure you’ll agree, is a snooze: National Nutrient Management Standard. Yet this document represents the agency’s best attempt to solve one of the country’s — and the world’s — really huge environmental problems: The nitrogen and phosphorus that pollute waterways.
• Killing of Wolves From Air Draws Fire: (McClatchy-Tribune News Service):
  For years, the federal agencies that helped the U.S. wolf population recover under the Endangered Species Act have also quietly killed hundreds of wolves that threaten livestock or prized game.
  They’ve even taken to the skies – and are considering doing so again.
  Officials in Idaho said Wednesday they would consider deploying federal sharpshooters in helicopters across north-central Idaho in the coming weeks to kill up to 75 wolves threatening elk near the Montana border.
• Analysis: Climate Talks and Climate Science: A World Apart: (The Daily Climate):
  Riders In GOP Interior Appropriations Bill Reward Shell Oil, Ban Light Bulb Standards (Think Progress Green)
• Facebook Unfriends Coal, Partners with Greenpeace for Clean Energy Future (Climate Progress)
• VIDEO: Climate Hawks Whitehouse And Franken Hold Climate Crisis Colloquy (Think Progress Green):
  Yesterday, Senators Al Franken (D-MN) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-MN) held an hour-long colloquy on the hard reality of climate change and the polluter-driven inaction in the U.S. Senate. They discussed not only future threats, but also the changes in severe weather and climate that are already causing havoc to our nation. Whitehouse and Franken agreed that the nation is following a dangerous path by ignoring scientists because of the pollution industry.
• Essential Climate Science Findings:
• VIDEO ANIMATION: Time history of atmospheric CO2 (NOAA Carbon Tracker YouTube channel):
• Skeptical Science: Get the FULL DEBUNKING of All Climate Science Denier Arguments
• Part 1: The brutal logic of climate change (David Roberts, Grist) [emphasis added]:
  It’s simple: If there is to be any hope of avoiding civilization-threatening climate disruption, the U.S. and other nations must act immediately and aggressively on an unprecedented scale. That means moving to emergency footing. War footing. “Hitler is on the march and our survival is at stake” footing. That simply won’t be possible unless a critical mass of people are on board. It’s not the kind of thing you can sneak in incrementally.

  It is unpleasant to talk like this. People don’t want to hear it.

• Part 2: The brutal logic of climate change mitigation (David Roberts, Grist)
• World headed for irreversible climate change in five years, IEA warns: If fossil fuel infrastructure is not rapidly changed, the world will ‘lose for ever’ the chance to avoid dangerous climate change (Guardian UK) [emphasis added]:
  The world is likely to build so many fossil-fuelled power stations, energy-guzzling factories and inefficient buildings in the next five years that it will become impossible to hold global warming to safe levels, and the last chance of combating dangerous climate change will be “lost for ever”, according to the most thorough analysis yet of world energy infrastructure.
  …
  “The door is closing,” Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, said. “I am very worried – if we don’t change direction now on how we use energy, we will end up beyond what scientists tell us is the minimum [for safety]. The door will be closed forever.”
• Concise Overview: The IPCC report on extreme climate and weather events (Real Climate)
• READ the IPCC Report: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
• The Real Global Warming Signal (Tamino)
• No, global warming hasn’t stopped (New Scientist)
• Top UN Climate Official Blasts U.S. Climate Policy: Americans Must Realize “This Is Their Future They’re Compromising” (Think Progress Green)
• VIDEO: Climate Scientists Michael Mann on “A Look Into Our Climate: Past To Present To Future” (TEDx, YouTube)