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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Zombie Keystone pipeline rises again, as Obama fast-tracks southern leg; The Waxman cometh with a deficit-cutting carbon tax proposal, while the GOP protects Big Oil’s billion-dollar subsidies; Exxon Valdez to the scrap heap of history; PLUS: It’s World Water Day — do you know where your clean water is?… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 3/22/2012

‘Green News Report’ – March 22, 2012  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – March 22, 2012  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): GOP vs. the Navy on clean energy; Fracking: Is Dimock’s water really safe?; U.S. slaps low tariffs on Chinese solar panels; Beekeepers urge ban on toxic pesticide; Myths and Facts: Germans switch from nukes to renewables; SCOTUS rules against EPA; Denmark to boost offshore wind; Damage to oceans could cost $2tr by 2100 … PLUS: House Republican accidentally tells truth about Solyndra investigation … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• After Anti-Obama Rant, Limbaugh Says: “This Jackass Folks, We’re Just Dealing With A Jackass” (Media Matters)
• ‘Mutant Heat Wave’ Continues Across U.S.:
• Global Warming May Have Fueled March Heat Wave Odds (Climate Central)
• March heat wave re-writing Nat’l Weather Service record book (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
• March Madness: ‘This May Be An Unprecedented Event Since Modern U.S. Weather Records Began In The Late 19th Century’ (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
  March Heat Records Hit Incredible Ratio of 35 to 1 vs. Cold Records, Must-See Weather Channel Video Explains Link to Global Warming
  …
  There is a must-see interview of Ostro on the Weather Channel’s website, in which Ostro explains how “data and science” “” see this big PDF ““ switched him from being a skeptic on climate change to someone who understands that humans are changing the climate now.
• Winter That Wasn’t Fuels Deadly Spring Of Wildfires (Think Progress Green)
• Zombie Keystone Pipeline: Obama Supports Solar, But Fast-tracks Southern Leg:
• VIDEO: President Obama Delivers Remarks on American Energy, Boulder City, NV (C-SPAN)
• VIDEO: President Obama Travels to Oklahoma, Ohio on Energy Tour (C-SPAN)
• Transcript: President Obama Boulder City, Nevada Speech Video: Mar. 21, 2012 Copper Mountain Solar 1 Facility (ShallowNation.com)
• Transcript: President Obama Cushing, OK Speech Video: Mar. 22, 2012 Keystone XL Pipeline Announcement
• FACT SHEET: Obama Administrations All-of-the-Above Approach to American Energy (White House.gove)
• Obama: ‘We’ve Added Enough New Oil And Gas Pipeline To Encircle The Earth’ (Think Progress Green):
  We’re opening up more than 75 percent of our potential oil resources offshore. We have quadrupled number of operating rigs to a record high. We have added enough new oil and gas pipeline to encircle the earth and then some. So we are drilling all over the place, right now. That’s not the challenge. That’s not the problem.
• TransCanada’s southern Keystone XL tar sands pipeline isn’t designed to support domestic oil industry (NRDC Switchborad)
• LCV Statement on Obama Cushing Speech: (League of Conservation Voters)
• Cushing’s Litany Of Climate Disasters, Fueled By Our Addiction To Oil (Think Progress Green)
• Native Americans Protesting Obama’s Keystone XL Support Will Be Put In A Cage (Think Progress Green)
• Thoughts On Obama’s Visit To Cushing, OK: The Pipeline Crossroads For The World (Climate Action Network)
• VIDEO: Texas landowners oppose Keystone XL pipeline (NRDC)
• Boehner not impressed by Obama’s push for southern part of Keystone pipeline (The Hill’s E2 Wire)
• GOP Protects Big Oil Subsidies, Cuts Everyone Else:
• GOP Budget Calls For Fire Sale Of Public Lands While Preserving $40 Billion In Tax Breaks To Big Oil (Think Progress Green)
• In Gas Prices Hearing, House Republicans Demand Higher Profits For Big Oil (Think Progress Green)
• Ryan Budget Pads Big Oil’s Pockets While Americans Pay At The Pump (Think Progress Green)
• CONFIRMED: No Correlation Between Drilling & Gas Prices:
• Interactive Graphic: Oil Production vs. Gas Prices (AP)
• AP Fact Check: In 36 Years Of Data, Not A Shred Of Evidence That Drilling Reduces Gas Prices (Think Progress Green)
• Fact-Free Fox News Blames Gas Prices On Obama (Think Progress Green)
• 20 Experts Who Say Drilling Won’t Lower Gas Prices (Media Matters)
• Why Gas Prices Vary So Much From One Place to the Next (TIME)
• Natural Born Drillers (Paul Krugman, NYT) [emphasis added]:
  If there were any truth to drill-here-drill-now, this boom should have yielded substantially lower gasoline prices and lots of new jobs. Predictably, however, it has done neither.
  ..
  Why, then, are Republicans pretending otherwise? Part of the answer is that the party is rewarding its benefactors: the oil and gas industry doesn’t create many jobs, but it does spend a lot of money on lobbying and campaign contributions. The rest of the answer is simply the fact that conservatives have no other job-creation ideas to offer.
• Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal and Koch-Fueled Cato Agree: “It’s Not Obama’s Fault That Crude Oil Prices Have Increased” (Climate Progress)
• World Water Day – Do You Know Where Your Clean Water Is?:
• TAKE ACTION: World Water Day 2012 (Water Aid UK)
• TAKE ACTION: Bringing Safe Water to the World: Environmental stewardship can help eliminate the world’s biggest health risk — dirty water. (NRDC)
• U.S. Intelligence Says Water Shortages Threaten Stability (Bloomberg)
• World Water Day: Understanding Water Risk (Forbes):
  As we mark World Water Day, the alarming statistics underlying water scarcity are worth repeating. Worldwide 2.7 billion people are currently affected by water shortages. As the global population races toward 8 billion and beyond, upward trends in food demand and economic growth promise to further strain freshwater resources, especially in the developing world. Climate change, of course, is exacerbating these water challenges.
• Texas drought cost farmers and rancher $7.6 Billion in 2011 alone, (new tally) (Texas Tribune)
• Not a Drop to Drink (OnEarthMag)
• VIDEO: How Las Vegas is drying up (Guardian UK)
• Water Works: Rebuilding Infrastructure, Creating Jobs, Greening the Environment: Want to create 1.9 million American jobs and add $265 billion to the economy? Upgrade our water infrastructure. (Green For All)
• US water pipelines: 3 proposals (Guardian UK):
  Cities in the US south-west are seeking to supplement their water supplies with pipelines carrying water across the desert.
• Tapped out: Water in California’s farm country is dangerously polluted (Grist):
  The fact is, for as long as industrial-scale farmers can get away with externalizing the cost of the damage this excess nitrogen causes, they probably will.
• Water wars between countries could be just around the corner: UK Energy secretary tells conference that growing pressure on water resources could worsen existing war and lead to new ones (Guardian UK)
• >Exxon Valdez to Scrap Heap of History:
• Tanker in 1989 oil spill is sold for scrap (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram):
  The Exxon Valdez has been sold for scrap 23 years after causing the worst tanker spill in U.S. history, which led to new designs for oil carriers. Now called the Oriental Nicety, the vessel was sold for about $16 million.

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

• It’s the GOP vs. the Navy “” on Clean Energy Use (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
  In 2012, if you want to reduce your use of fossil fuels in favor of clean energy sources, expect to be taken to task by Republicans. Even if you’re the United States Armed Forces.

  Under most of the mainstream media radar, the U.S. military has emerged as one of the nation’s biggest adopters of clean technologies including solar power, wind energy, green buildings, and biofuels.

• FRACKING: So, Is Dimock’s Water Really Safe to Drink? (Pro Publica) [emphasis added]:
  But what the [EPA] didn’t say ““ at least, not publicly ““ is that the water samples contained dangerous quantities of methane gas, a finding that confirmed some of the agency’s initial concerns and the complaints raised by Dimock residents since 2009.
• U.S. slaps low tariffs on Chinese solar panels (San Jose Mercury News)
• Beekeepers Urge U.S. Ban On Pesticide Toxic to Honeybees (Yale 360):
  A coalition of commercial beekeepers and environmental groups is urging U.S. regulators to suspend the use of a pesticide they say may be contributing to a sharp decline in honeybee populations.
• Myths and Facts: The German Switch from Nuclear to Renewables (TIME)
• Denmark to boost offshore wind energy (Reuters):
  Danish governing and opposition parties agreed on Thursday to boost offshore wind energy in the country, already the world leader in wind power, officials said.

  Two offshore wind parks with total capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW) will be built off Denmark by 2020.

• House Republican accidentally tells truth about Solyndra investigation (Grist)
• Damage to oceans could cost $2tr by 2100 (Business Green)
  Damage to natural services provided by oceans could cost the world $2tr a year by the end of the century if steps to curtail climate change are not taken, a study by the respected Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) said today.
• Global Sea Level Likely to Rise as Much as 70 Feet for Future Generations (Science Daily):
  Even if humankind manages to limit global warming to 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F), as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends, future generations will have to deal with sea levels 12 to 22 meters (40 to 70 feet) higher than at present, according to research published in the journal Geology.
• Why a sore throat could soon be fatal: Bugs are becoming more resistant to antibiotics, warn health chiefs: ‘A post-antibiotic era means, in effect, an end to modern medicine as we know it,’ warns WHO chief (Daily Mail)
• VIDEO: James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change (TED Talks):
  Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about the future.

• Skeptical Science: Get the FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Arguments
• VIDEO ANIMATION: Time history of atmospheric CO2 (NOAA Carbon Tracker YouTube channel):
• VIDEO: Animation Charts Modern Global Warming (NYT Green)
• Must-Read: Economist William Nordhaus Slams Global Warming Deniers, Explains Cost of Delay is $4 Trillion (Climate Progress):
  Nordhaus’s blunt piece “” “Why the Global Warming Skeptics Are Wrong” ““ is worth reading because he is no climate hawk.
  …
  “The skeptics’ summary is based on poor analysis and on an incorrect reading of the results.”
• 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)
• How to Buy Time in the Fight against Climate Change: Mobilize to Stop Soot and Methane: A short list of relatively simple actions taken to reduce greenhouse gases other than CO2 could help put the brakes on global warming–if implemented globally (Scientific American)
• Climate Scientists Rebuke Rupert Murdoch: WSJ Denier Op-Ed Like ‘Dentists Practicing Cardiology’ (Think Progress Green)
• Saudi Oil Minister Calls Global Warming “Humanity’s Most Pressing Concern” (Climate Progress):
  “We know that pumping oil out of the ground does not create many jobs. It does not foster an entrepreneurial spirit, nor does it sharpen critical faculties.”
• VIDEO: Behold: The World’s First 24/7 Solar Plant is Up and Running (Treehugger)
• 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)
• Earth’s Plant Growth Fell Because of Climate Change, Study Finds (NYT Green)
• 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.“