‘Green News Report’ – March 11, 2014

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Up all night for climate in the U.S. Senate; Alaska’s iconic Iditarod race struggles without snow; California breaks solar power records; PLUS: 3rd anniversary of the meltdown at Fukushima, and the legacy of nuclear disaster … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Climatologist who predicted California drought 10 years ago says it may soon be ‘even more dire’; Daylight Savings Time could be costing billions yearly in electricity; Canadian tar sands oil gets new route across US; IEA: wind and solar can carry bulk of energy transformation; New ozone-depleting gases found in atmosphere; Get ready for El Nino…maybe; What slowdown? NASA says long-term warming likely to be significant; Duke CEO: All customers to pay for coal ash cleanup … PLUS: ‘Pollution burden’ much higher for California’s minority populations … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• VIDEO: Morning Joe: No shortage of climate change talk in media (MSNBC Morning Joe)
• 3rd Anniversary of Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown:
• VIDEO: Inside the slow and dangerous clean up of the Fukushima nuclear crisis (PBS Newshour)
• Fukushima operator may have to dump contaminated water into Pacific (Guardian UK): As Japan marks the third anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, TEPCO is struggling to find a solution for hundreds of thousands of tons of contaminated water
• Radiation Fears Force Fukushima’s Children Inside (NBC News)
• Japan marks Fukushima disaster anniversary (Al Jazeera)
• Thousands take part in anti-nuclear protests ahead of Fukushima anniversary (EuroNews)
• 267,000 remain evacuees as earthquake-tsunami disasters’ 3rd anniversary approaches (Japan Daily Press)
• NBC News: US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Downplayed Fukushima & Nuclear Risks in US:
• NBC News: U.S. Nuclear Agency Hid Concerns, Hailed Safety Record as Fukushima Melted (NBC News) [emphasis added]:
  In the tense days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan on March 11, 2011, staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission made a concerted effort to play down the risk of earthquakes and tsunamis to America’s aging nuclear plants, according to thousands of internal emails reviewed by NBC News.
• Fukushima Radiation To Reach West Coast In April, Experts Weigh In On How Dangerous It Is (International Business Times)
• Report: Inconsistent Nuclear Plant Safety Enforcement (Greenville News)
• Iditarod Racers Struggle with Lack of Snow:
• Big problem with Iditarod: Plenty of mushers, sleds, but little snow (LA Times)
• VIDEO: Musher Aliy Zirkle explains why she stopped in Safety during Iditarod 2014 (Alaska Dispatch)
• US Senate Democrats: Up All Night For Climate:
• Now It’s the Dems Talking All Night, About Climate (AP)
• Sleepless in the Senate: Democrats pull all-nighter for climate change – as it happened – live blog (Guardian UK): 28 Democrats have signed on to an all-night speechathon to try to push Congress to take up climate change
• Senate Democrats’ All-Nighter Flags Climate Change (NY Times):
  Climate caucus members say their objective is to raise the urgency of global warming and build toward a time when the political landscape may have shifted enough that a bill could pass. They argue that there are signs that the political winds may already be changing.
• How talking about climate change might actually help Democrats win elections (Washington Post):
  That conventional wisdom of climate change as a dead weight issue is challenged by a Stanford University study based on the 2010 congressional elections, which found Americans voted, at least in part, on candidates’ climate change positions.
• Climate Action Senators Raised Less From Oil And Gas Industry Than Those On The Sidelines (Huffington Post)
• VIDEO: Fox Panel Laughs At Senate Democrats For All-Nighter On Climate Change (Media Matters)
• Senate Democrats plan all-nighter tonight for climate change (Washington Post)
• California Breaks Its Solar Generation Record:
• California electric grid sets solar generation record (Reuters): California set back-to-back solar power records last week, the state grid operator said on Monday.

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

• Climatologist Who Predicted California Drought 10 Years Ago Says It May Soon Be ‘Even More Dire’ (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
  All this isn’t “proof” that human caused climate change helped shift and reduce precipitation in California during its record-setting drought. But a prediction this accurate can’t be ignored, either, especially because of its implications for the future.
• IEA says wind and solar can carry bulk of energy transformation (Renew Economy)
• Daylight Savings Time Could Be Costing Billions Yearly in Electricity (Treehugger):
  The main finding? Daylight Saving Time actually increases electricity demand, instead of lessening it. DST caused electrical demand to rise almost 1 percent each year overall–with a much heavier increase of 2-4 percent in the fall, when residents “fall back” an hour.
• Canadian oil will take new route across US: (New York Times):
  Canada’s energy producers received a rare boost in their efforts to expand the market for oil sands bitumen on Thursday when the country’s National Energy Board approved the reversal of a Canadian pipeline.
• New ozone-depleting gases found in atmosphere: (AFP):
  Scientists have found four new ozone-destroying gases in the atmosphere, most likely put there by humans in the last 50 years, despite a ban on these dangerous compounds.” AFP had the story March 10, 2014.

• Get ready for next climate phenomenon: El Nino: (Climate Central):
  For West Coasters sick of the ridiculously resilient ridge of high pressure and East Coasters tired of hearing about the polar vortex, get ready for a new climate phenomenon to dominate headlines. El Niño could be making a return this fall after a 4-year hiatus, changing rainfall and temperature patterns across the world. It could even boost the odds of 2014 being the globe’s hottest year on record.
• The real reasons to export U.S. gas (hint: money!) (CNN) [emphasis added]:
  But ultimately the volume of gas the U.S. could export is relatively small, and is unlikely to alter the current energy markets over which Russia holds so much sway…A more solid reason to support more U.S. energy exports is money, and it’s no surprise that the loudest calls are coming from energy producing states.
• Long-Term Warming Likely to Be Significant Despite Recent Slowdown (NASA)
• NAFTA report warns of trade deal environmental disasters: (Huffington Post Green):
  A report due to be released Tuesday aims to offer an object lesson to President Barack Obama: Free trade deals have high costs in unintended consequences for the environment, people’s way of life, and local sovereignty.
• Pollution burden higher for California’s Latinos and blacks: report: (LA Times):
  Maryland: Senators seek to stall pollution regulations on behalf of Big Ag: (Baltimore Sun):

  Key senators have put language in the state budget bill that would stall Maryland’s efforts to limit one of the Chesapeake Bay’s main pollutants, phosphorus.
• Duke CEO: All customers to pay for coal ash cleanup: (AP):
  Duke Energy’s CEO says while the company and its shareholders will pay to clean up a coal ash spill in the Dan River, its customers will shoulder the costs of closing the rest of the utility’s coal ash ponds across North Carolina.
• Climate Change and National Security in the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (Center for Climate & Security)
• This roadmap shows how all 50 US states can transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050 (Treehugger)
• 8 Steps To Sustainable Meat And Milk (Popular Science):
  Put down the bologna: “Quality, not quantity” is just one strategy that could make meat available to all while protecting the environment.
• Americans use twice as much water as they think they do, study says (LA Times):
  Americans use twice the amount of water they think they do, and appear to be particularly oblivious about how much H2O they flush down the toilet on a daily basis, according to new research.
• China Declares War on Pollution as Smog Spreads (Bloomberg):
  Pollution is ‘‘nature’s red-light warning against the model of inefficient and blind development,’’ Li said today in his work report at the start of this year’s National People’s Congress in Beijing. ‘‘Fostering a sound ecological environment is vital for people’s lives and the future of our nation.”
• Global Shift to Clean Energy No Longer ‘Theoretical’ (The Tyee):
  These days the data tell a powerful story. Recent price declines for solar energy have been “massive,” [Ethan Zindler, Bloomberg New Energy Finance] explained, while merely “substantial” for wind, meaning that a global shift away from fossil fuels is no longer “theoretical.”

FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page

• Video Proof That Global Warming is a ‘Hoax’!: NASA Temperature Data 1888-2011 (The BRAD BLOG):



• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).