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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Dept. of Interior expands solar – again; Dept. of Energy expands nuclear – again; Just what is in that pope smoke?; PLUS: Sean (& Yoko) Lennon have a (fracking) message for NY’s Governor … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 3/14/2013

‘Green News Report’ – March 14, 2013  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – March 14, 2013  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Metaphor for US oil addiction: Huge fire as oil barge crashes into gas pipeline; Double-duty desalination plant generates energy, clean water; Ryan budget proposal cuts clean energy research, public lands; Are methane hydrates the next big energy source?; Deadly bat fungus spreads to 22 states; Elephants get trade protection; U.S. sailors sue TEPCO over Fukushima … PLUS: Top 10 effects of global warming on U.S. businesses … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Pope Smoke: The Recipe (Discovery News)
• Interior Department Expands Solar, Wind — Again:
• U.S. Approves 1100 Megawatts of Wind, Solar Projects: (Bloomberg News):
  The U.S. approved three renewable- energy projects to be built on federal land in California and Nevada.
• Renewables Changing the Math of Energy Grid (ClimateCrocks.com):
  Ever wonder what an unraveling paradigm looks like? The energy revolution that has been building for the last decade is now beginning to eat away at the assumptions that underly our antique electrical grid.
• Solar Nearly Doubles in U.S. in One Year:
• U.S. Solar Grew 76% in 2012 Led by Utility-Scale Projects (Bloomberg)
• American Solar Power Broke Records Last Year (Climate Progress)
• Department of Energy Expands Nuclear — Again:
• Obama Administration Placing Big Bet on Small Reactors (E & E News):
  The Obama administration is promoting a bold, long-range plan for building dozens of small, factory-built reactors capable of replacing coal-fired power plants that are expected to be retired in the coming decades, a Department of Energy official said yesterday.
• Feds Release Confidential Report on CA Nuke Plant (NY Times):
  The company that runs the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant sparred with environmental activists Friday over the details of a once-confidential report that shows industry engineers were aware of problems with steam quality inside equipment that later malfunctioned.
• Oil Industry & Republicans’ Ad Campaign to Keep Taxpayer Subisidies:
• Oil-and-gas lobby starts ad campaign defending tax breaks (The Hill’s E2 Wire):
  An oil-and-gas lobby group is launching a TV advertising campaign aimed at convincing lawmakers to keep their hands off tax incentives awarded to the industry.
• Carbon Tax Continues to Gain Cred. Deniers Worried. (ClimateCrocks.com):
  There are a few remaining rational actors in the Republican party, and they have a problem. They recognize that, as tarnished as their brand is now with young people, another 5 years of unmitigated climate change will cement the party’s place in history alongside Nero, if that’s not a done deal already….
• Help Henry Waxman Write a New Carbon Tax Bill (Grist)
• Sean Lennon Sings to Gov. Cuomo: “Don’t Frack My Mother”
• VIDEO: “Don’t Frack My Mother” (Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono & Friends via ClimateCrocks.com) (ClimateCrocks.com)



• Natural Gas Industry Drives a Construction Surge in Ohio (NY Times)
• Can Wind, Water and Sunlight Power New York by 2050? (NYT Dot Earth blog)

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

• A metaphor for US oil addiction: Huge fire as oil barge crashes into natural gas pipeline in Louisiana (Grist):
  A tugboat captain was among those injured after an oil barge crashed into a natural-gas pipeline south of New Orleans.
• London: A Billion For Bike Lanes (ClimateCrocks.com):
  The city of London is going big into bicycles…Here’s a sampling of what you can do with £1 billion ($1.4 billion): A new ‘Central London Grid’ of bike routes in the City and West End, using segregation, quiet streets, and two-way cycling on one-way traffic streets…
• Nanotubes boost potential of salinity power as a renewable energy source (Gizmag):
  In November 2009, Norwegian state owned electricity company Starkraft opened the world’s first osmotic power plant prototype, which generates electricity from the difference in the salt concentration between river water and sea water. While osmotic power is a clean, renewable energy source, its commercial use has been limited due to the low generating capacities offered by current technology… Now researchers have discovered a new way to harness osmotic power.
• Environmentalists Decry Paul Ryan Budget: (Huffington Post):
  Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday released his budget proposal calling for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and slashing the discretionary spending that helps protect Americans from climate-related threats.
• Senate Bill Would Boost Funding For NOAA Weather Satellites (Climate Central):
  Key weather and climate satellites would get a boost under a new Senate spending proposal.
• U.S. Sailors Sue Japan Nuclear Plant Owner, Say Fukushima Disaster Made Them Sick (Huffington Post):
  Within weeks of setting off a geiger counter and scrubbing three layers of skin off his hands and arms, former Navy quartermaster Maurice Enis recalled being pressured to sign away U.S. government liability for any future health problems.
• Are Methane Hydrates the Next Big Energy Source? (Washington Post):
  Japan has successfully extracted natural gas from methane hydrates (“fire ice”) 1,000 feet below the seabed.
• Deadly Bat Fungus Now in 22 States, 5 Provinces (Scientific American Extinction Countdown blog):
  The white-nose syndrome fungus that is killing bats in their caves has now spread to 22 U.S. states and 5 Canadian provinces.
• Climate-Minded Shareholders Ask How Coal Fares if Regulations Tighten (InsideClimate News):
  Two advocacy groups have come up with a new tactic to show how climate change-and laws to deal with it-could make investments in fossil fuel companies riskier and rock financial markets.
• Governments Protect Rhinos, Elephants From Illegal Trade (Environment News Service):
  Governments extended greater protection to endangered rhinoceroses that are being slaughtered for their horns, which already are subject to an international trade ban. A record 668 South African rhinos were killed by poachers last year, and nearly 150 have died in 2013.
• CA: Fracking Fluid Suppliers Defend Trade Secrets on West Coast (E & E News):
  Makers of the specialty cocktails used to crack open the Earth and set loose gobs of oil and gas are sparring once again on behalf of their corner of the energy industry.
• Chemical and Gas Suppliers Battle Over LNG Exports (Chemical & Engineering News) [emphasis added]:
  The U.S. is in the midst of an energy transformation. Technologies that free fossil-fuel reserves, once trapped in shale, have radically shrunk natural gas imports. By 2020, the nation is expected to produce more gas than it needs. As the country approaches this milestone, it faces a question long asked in other countries with abundant energy resources: How much should we use at home and how much should we sell abroad?
• Top Ten Effects of Global Warming on Business (Triple Pundit):
  According to Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), “one thing is clear: businesses, governments and communities across the world need to plan for a warming world – not just 2C, but 4C or even 6C.” Given this cheery prologue, what are the characteristics that businesses should be preparing for as we look forward to a destabilizing climate?
• Why carbon capture and storage will never pay off (Smart Planet)
• The Oil Leak in the Gulf We’re Not Supposed to Know About (Triple Pundit):
  Six environmental groups have served a freedom-of-information lawsuit to the US Coast Guard in an attempt to learn more about an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that has been ongoing for eight years. The spill is allegedly coming from from a number of wells belonging to Taylor Energy.
• The New Sustainable Energy Factbook: A Strong Case for Consistent Policy (Bloomberg New Energy Finance, via ClimateProgress.org):
  The report provides a detailed account of the energy market for investors and policymakers making a strong case for the role of stable policies in leveling the playing field for clean energy technologies in the evolving energy landscape.

• COVER STORY: It’s Global Warming, Stupid (Businessweek):
  If all that doesn’t impress, forget the scientists ostensibly devoted to advancing knowledge and saving lives. Listen instead to corporate insurers committed to compiling statistics for profit.
• Ocean Acidification: Animals are already dissolving in Southern Ocean (New Scientist)
• Global warming targets further out of reach, UN says (Phys.org):
  Based on current pledges, global average temperatures could rise by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5.4 to 9.0 degrees Fahrenheit) this century — way above the two degrees Celsius being targeted, said a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report.

• Skeptical Science: Get the FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Arguments
• 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.
• VIDEO ANIMATION: Time history of atmospheric CO2 (NOAA Carbon Tracker YouTube channel):
• VIDEO: Animation Charts Modern Global Warming (NYT Green)
• Thinking Big: NREL Study Shows 80 Percent Renewables Possible By 2050 (Climate Progress)
• 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. …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)
• 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 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)
• The Real Global Warming Signal (Tamino)