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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Some good news for a change: U.S. inks climate agreements with China and Japan; Another oil company quits the Arctic (for now); California sets wind energy record; Lax state regs contributed to Chevron refinery fire; Go underdogs: scrappy InsideClimateNews.org wins a Pulitzer; PLUS: Florida invaded by giant slimy snails … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report

with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen

4/16/2013

‘Green News Report’ – April 16, 2013  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen  |  (Mostly) Good-News-For-A-Change Edition!...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – April 16, 2013  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen  |  (Mostly) Good-News-For-A-Change Edition!...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): It’s official: EPA delays climate rule for new power plants; East coast seismic tests could harm marine mammals; CO: Benzene found 1400 ft from leak site; Critics slam NOAA drought report; Protesters mark 3 yr anniversary of BP Oil Disaster at trial; Reuters bungles climate science report; Antarctic ice melting at record rate: study; China cozies up to Iceland for Arctic access … PLUS: Unhappy Returns: Climate Change’s Big Tax on American … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Scrappy Start-up InsideClimateNews.org Wins Pulitzer Prize:
• ICN Wins National Reporting Pulitzer (InsideClimateNews.org):
  InsideClimate News reporters won for their “rigorous reports on flawed regulation of the nation’s oil pipelines,” focusing on the potential dangers of dilbit from Canada’s tar sands.
• InsideClimate News wins Pulitzer (Washington Post)
• The Pulitzer Prize-winning piece: The Dilbit Disaster: Inside the Biggest Oil Spill You’ve Never Heard Of (Amazon)
• Exxon Oil Is in the Lake, Expert Confirms (InsideClimateNews.org)
• Wind Energy Record in California: (Green Tech Media) [emphasis added]:
  Winds that reached over 90 miles per hour on mountain ridges … raising their outputs to a record-shattering 4,196 megawatts on Sunday evening, according the California Independent System Operator (the ISO). The output was nearly the equivalent of the combined capacities of San Onofre and Diablo Canyon, California’s two nuclear generating stations.
• Feds: Chevron Refinery Fire Sign of Weak Oversight: (SF Chronicle):
  The fire that destroyed part of Chevron’s Richmond refinery happened because weak state regulations allowed the company to monitor rather than simply fix potential problems, federal investigators said Monday.
• Score one for the Arctic: Conoco-Philips Drops Drilling in 2014: (NY Times):
  ConocoPhillips has made a good choice, said Michael LeVine, a lawyer for the environmental group Oceana. As weve learned again and again, operating in Alaskan water demands preparation, care and attention to details companies have not yet proven able to provide.
• Sec. of State Kerry Signs Climate Cooperation Agreements with China, Japan:
• VIDEO: Secretary Kerry Delivers Remarks With Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida (State Dept. Youtube Channel)
• U.S. and China pledge ‘large-scale cooperative action’ to reduce emissions (E & E News):
  “China and the United States represent the world’s two biggest economies, we represent the world’s two largest consumers of energy, and we represent the two largest emitters of global greenhouse gases. So if any two nations come to this table with an imperative for action, it is us,” Kerry said.
• Florida Invasion: Giant (Slimy) African Land Snails Threaten Agriculture Industry:
• Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails (Reuters):
  South Florida is fighting a growing infestation of one of the world’s most destructive invasive species: the giant African land snail, which can grow as big as a rat and gnaw through stucco and plaster.
• Florida Battles Giant African Land Snail Invasion (ABC News)
• VIDEO: Attack of the Giant African Snails! (AFP):

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

• Small Leak Is Discovered at Plant in Fukushima (NY Times)
• It’s official: EPA delays climate rule for new power plants (Wahsington Post): EPA is likely to alter the rule in some way in an effort to make sure it can withstand a legal challenge.
• Report: Seismic Tests Could Harm Whales, Dolphins: (FuelFix):
  Nearly 140,000 whales and dolphins could be injured if the Obama administration allows energy companies to conduct seismic research aimed at identifying oil and gas along the Atlantic Coast, according to a new report issued Tuesday.
• Benzene found 1400 ft from leak site: (Grand Juntion Daily Sentinel):
  High benzene levels in groundwater have been detected about 1,400 feet downstream of the presumed source of a hydrocarbons leak northwest of Parachute, the state Department of Natural Resources said today.

• White House huddled with industry before changes to BLM fracking rule: (E & E News):
  President Obama’s top energy adviser repeatedly huddled with oil and gas lobbyists in the months before the administration changed new hydraulic fracturing rules to the industry’s liking, records show.
• Critics slam NOAA report, say climate change is worsening U.S. drought (Climate Progress):
  NOAA has issued a report on a small part of the recent brutal droughts that have hit the United States over the past few years. The report – ‘An Interpretation of the Origins of the 2012 Central Great Plains Drought’ – is needlessly confusing, scientifically problematic, and already leading to misleading headlines.
• BP oil spill trial continues as demonstrators note upcoming 3-year anniversary of disaster (NOLA.com):
  Full coverage of the ongoing BP Oil Spill Trial at NOLA.com
• Video Explains How Loss Of Arctic Ice Weakens Jet Stream, Amplifies Extreme Weather (Climate Progress)
• Arctic nearly free of summer sea ice during first half of 21st century (NOAA News):
  For scientists studying summer sea ice in the Arctic, it’s not a question of “if” there will be nearly ice-free summers, but “when.” And two scientists say that “when” is sooner than many thought — before 2050 and possibly within the next decade or two.
• Reuters bungles climate science report (Media Matters) [emphasis added]:
  Reuters is purporting to examine how scientists are “struggling” to reconcile short-term temperature variation with long-term climate change, but fails to quote any scientists about the issue.
• Antarctic ice melting at record rate, study shows: The evidence comes from a 364-metre ice core containing a record of freezing and melting over the previous millennium (Guardian UK):
  Summer ice in the Antarctic is melting 10 times quicker than it was 600 years ago, with the most rapid melt occurring in the last 50 years, a joint Australian-British study showed Monday.
• China should have a say in future of Arctic — Iceland president (Guardian UK): Olafur Ragnar Grimsson says nations beyond the polar region should be involved in determining future of the far north.
• Jeremy Grantham on how to feed the world and why he invests in oil (Guardian UK): The co-founder of investment group GMO on what books he’s reading and why he wants to fund ‘avant garde’ farming
• Huge survey of tax policy experts find that 85% support a carbon tax (Univ of Michigan’s Office of Tax Policy Research):
  + 91% believe there should be a gasoline tax “to pay for all the highway construction and maintenance.”
  + 85% think there should be a carbon tax (tax on carbon content of energy sources or uses).
• Unhappy Returns: Climate Change’s Big Tax on Americans (Live Science):
  The US Government Accountability Office warned in February that climate change is a “significant financial risk to the federal government.” It threatens everything — not just federal lands and buildings, but food, flood and crop insurance, and disaster relief.
• How Far Can Climate Change Go?: (Scientific American) [emphasis added]:
  Seriously. How far can we push the planet?
• You Can Have More Fossil Fuel. Or You Can Have Water. Your Choice. (Climate Crocks):

• 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)