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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Scotland has a message for Donald Trump’s hot air on wind farms; The IMF has a message for the oil industry (and they’re not gonna like it); PLUS: A whole lotta frackin’ going on — from PA to CA, new revelations — and earthquakes — crack the fracking industry’s facade … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 3/28/2013

‘Green News Report’ – March 28, 2013  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – March 28, 2013  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Iceland baffled by Chinese tycoon’s Arctic golf resort; How US can shift from oil & gas; Iraqi oil now mostly China’s; Solar energy brings voters to the polls in Kenya; Republican mayor leads CA city to nation’s first solar energy mandate; Water wars: NM farmers vs. fossil fuel industry; Another bleak drought season for U.S.; Red states use more energy than blue states; UK’s record weather extremes linked to Arctic sea ice loss; White House supports relaxing nuke rules; Rat poison manufacturer fights EPA ban … PLUS: “You Can Have More Fossil Fuel. Or You Can Have Water. Your Choice.” … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Scotland Defies Donald Trump Over Offshore Wind Farm:
• Scotland to Donald Trump: Drop dead. Offshore wind farm green-lit (Treehugger) [emphasis added]:
  Mr. Trump claimed that it would ruin the view from one of his golf course projects, and that (and I quote): “the reckless installation of these monsters […] will single-handedly have done more damage to Scotland than virtually any event in Scottish history” and that the wind farm would cause the “destruction of Scotland’s coastline”. No hyperbole there…
• VIDEO: Furious Trump Vows to Halt Offshore Wind Farm (STVNews)
• Scotland v. Trump: Scottish government approves windfarm opposed by Donald Trump: Billionaire property magnate attacks decision to build experimental offshore windfarm near his golf course as ‘purely political’ (Guardian UK)
• Wind Power In The UK And Ireland: Growing, Reliable And Making Donald Trump’s Hair Stand Up (Climate Progress)
• IMF Calls On Govt’s to End ‘Distorting’ Fossil Fuel Subsidies:
• IMF: Want to fight climate change? Get rid of $1.9 trillion in energy subsidies. (Washington Post)
• VIDEO: Energy Subsidy Reform–Lesson and Implications (IMF.org)
• Report: IMF Policy Advice – Reforming Energy Subsidies (IMF.org):
  Subsidies are expensive for governments””and therefore taxpayers””to finance and can hinder governments’ efforts to reduce budget deficits. They also compete with other priority public spending on roads, schools, and healthcare…. Subsidies encourage excessive energy consumption, which accelerates the depletion of natural resources. They also reduce the incentive for investment in other forms of cleaner energy.
• POLL: Over 70% of Americans Support Renewables Over Fossil Fuels: (The Hill’s e2 Wire):
  Roughly three-quarters of U.S. residents want the country to boost emphasis on wind and solar power production, making the fuels much more popular than coal, nuclear and oil, a new poll shows.
• Whole Lotta Fracking Goin’ On:
• PA: A Clash in Pennsylvania Over Fracking and Water Tests (NYT Green)
• Range Resources Paid $750,000 in Fracking Contamination Settlement (Businessweek)
• Former Pa. Gov. Rendell pressed EPA in Range pollution case, emails show (E & E News)
• Ed Rendell (D) Intervened For Oil Company to Stop EPA Contamination Case Against Range Resources (DeSmogBlog)
• Ed Rendell’s Plea for Fracking Fails to Disclose Industry Ties (Pro Publica)
• PA: In the fracking fields, a fight over who regulates (APM Marketplace)
• EPA to Range Resources: Drill Away (State Impact Texas)
• Judge Sides with Wyoming in Fracking Chemical Suit (TIME Eco-centric blog):
  A judge in Casper has sided with the state of Wyoming and ruled against environmentalists who sought to make public the lists of ingredients that go into hydraulic fracturing fluids.
• Range Resources accused of bully tactics against fracking foes (Delaware Online)
• Fracking Caused OK Earthquake, But Regulators Ignore Data:
• Different Kind Of Boom: Replacing Extracted Oil And Gas With Toxic Wastewater Causes Earthquakes (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
  It’s becoming increasingly clear that oil and gas extraction processes are actually weakening the structural integrity of the Earth’s crust just enough to cause more frequent earthquakes, in places not used to them.
• 2011 Oklahoma Temblor: Wastewater Injection Spurred Biggest Earthquake Yet, Study Says (Science Daily) [emphasis added]:
  A new study in the journal Geology is the latest to tie a string of unusual earthquakes… to the injection of wastewater deep underground. Researchers now say that the magnitude 5.7 earthquake near Prague, Okla., on Nov. 6, 2011… the biggest ever recorded in Oklahoma–destroyed 14 homes, buckled a federal highway and left two people injured. Small earthquakes continue to be recorded in the area.
• States deciding not to look at seismic risks of drilling (E & E News):
  Nine months after a National Academy of Sciences panel said oil and gas regulators should take steps to prevent man-made earthquakes, officials in key states are ignoring quake potential as they rewrite their drilling rules.
• ANALYSIS: To frack or not to frack? The shale gas development controversy (SkepticalScience.com)

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

• You Can Have More Fossil Fuel. Or You Can Have Water. Your Choice.: Part 1. (Climate Crocks):



• U.S. Energy Shift: Life After Oil and Gas (NY Times):
  [Increasingly, scientific research and the experience of other countries should prompt us to ask: To what extent will we really “need” fossil fuel in the years to come? To what extent is it a choice?
• Iraqi oil: Once seen as U.S. boon, now it’s mostly China’s (McClatchy DC)
• Red States Are Less Energy-Efficient Than Blue Ones: Another Partisan Divide? (Green Tech Media)
• Solar energy brings voters to the polls in Kenya (AlertNet):
  Solar power, increasingly available in this part of Kenya’s Rift Valley, made it considerably easier for many Kenyans to exercise their democratic rights this election season. Clean energy lit polling stations open late into the evening in some places; in others it lit community centres used to provide civil education programmes in the lead-up to the elections or ran biometric voter registration centres.
• Republican Mayor Leads City To First-Ever Solar Energy Mandate: Lancaster, CA becomes first in nation to mandate solar panels on all new construction (Climate Progress)
• Water Wars: New Mexico Farmers Seek ‘Priority Call’ [Against Fossil Fuel Industry] as Drought Persists (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
  “They’re not going to cut out the dairy industry,” he added. “They’re not going to cut off the oil and gas industry, because that’s economic development. So we’re left with a dilemma “” the New Mexico water dilemma.”
• White House Supports Rollback of Cleanup Standards for Nuclear Incidents (Global Security Newswire):
  The White House has endorsed a plan to relax long-held standards for cleaning up radioactive material released by a nuclear power plant disaster or act of terrorism, a group of federal officials say in a new draft report.
• With Drought Season Off to a Bad Start, Scientists Forecast Another Bleak Year (Inside Climate News):
  Current climate-induced drought is slipping into a trend that scientists say resembles some of the worst droughts in U.S. history, like the Dust Bowl
• Manufacturer of d-CON rat poison fights EPA ban (McClatchy DC):
  The manufacturer of d-CON, a widely sold and popular brand of rat poison, is taking the rare step of challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to prohibit the over-the-counter sale of one of the nastiest and most effective of the poisons sold to consumers. Most of the 30 manufactures that make such products agreed to the ban…
• Scientists link frozen spring to dramatic Arctic sea ice loss: Melting sea ice, exposing huge parts of the ocean to the atmosphere, explains extreme weather both hot and cold (Guardian UK)
• Teeing Off at Edge of the Arctic? A Chinese Plan Baffles Iceland (NY Times):
  Prodded by diplomats from the United States and other countries to take a hard look at Mr. Huang’s intentions, Mr. Jonasson questioned what might lie behind China’s curious interest in Grimsstadir. “One has to look at this from a geopolitical perspective and ask about motivations,” Mr. Jonasson said.
• In Hot Water: Global Warming Has Accelerated In Past 15 Years, New Study Of Oceans Confirms (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
  Completely contrary to the popular contrarian myth, global warming has accelerated, with more overall global warming in the past 15 years than the prior 15 years. This is because about 90% of overall global warming goes into heating the oceans, and the oceans have been warming dramatically. As suspected, much of the ‘missing heat’ Kevin Trenberth previously talked about has been found in the deep oceans.
• Chris Christie Has ‘No Sympathy’ For Beach Dune Opposition In Wake Of Superstorm Sandy (Huffington Post Green) [emphasis added]:
  “I’m not going to put up with people who say their view of the Atlantic Ocean is more important than the lives and the property of their neighbors,” the governor told residents of Middlesex, N.J., according to The Star-Ledger.
• How to cut U.S. gasoline use in half by 2030 (Washington Post) [emphasis added]:
  [I]f the United States ever plans to deal seriously with climate change, the transportation sector will have to change drastically. And the National Academy of Sciences report concludes that no one single policy or technology will do the trick.
• NOAA: ‘Robust, Unambiguous’ Independent Evidence Confirms The Recent Global Warming Measured By Thermometers: Yes, The Modern Instruments Are Right. Just Ask The Coral. Or The Caves. Or The Ice Cores. Or The…. (Climate Progress)

• 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)