‘Green News Report’ – June 5, 2014

Follow @GreenNewsReport…

 


(Or use “Click here to listen…” link below.)

IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Republicans attack Obama EPA’s proposed CO2 emissions standards… but they were FOR emissions cuts before they were against them; Good news for endangered wolves; PLUS: Los Angeles oil spill exposes gaping hole in pipeline oversight … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Pessimist Ezra Klein’s 7 reasons America will fail on climate change; G7 leaders back 2015 climate deal to build on U.S. momentum; Report: faulty blowout preventer, corporate culture at fault in BP oil disaster; Court rejects BP suit to avoid paying federal fines and damages for Gulf spill; Corporate spies infiltrated Australia anti-coal group; CA fracking moratorium voted down by oil-funded legislators; China aims to cap greenhouse gas output soon; Monarch butterfly decline linked to spread of GM crops … PLUS: Latest ‘COSMOS’ Episode on Global Warming Turns a ‘Denier’ into ‘Believer’ … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Republicans Launch Massive PR Attack on New Draft EPA Emissions Standards:
• Sorry Rand Paul, Not Only Is The EPA Carbon Rule Legal, It’s Mandated By Law (Climate Progress)
• The 6 Most Ridiculous Responses To Obama’s New Climate Rules (Climate Progress)
• VIDEO: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): New EPA Standards ‘Illegal’: (Your World with Neil Cavuto, Fox Business Channel)
• ALEC helps some states lash at EPA climate rule (Politico)
  John Eick, director of the ALEC Task Force on Energy, Environment and Agriculture, also sees a “good chance” that his group will issue model legislation on EPA’s power plant rule after its annual meeting this summer. “I think it’s very possible that we’ll probably put together even more language specifically targeting this regulation,” he said.
• Republicans Were FOR Cap & Trade Before They Were Against It:
• VIDEO: What Happened To The Republican Consensus On Climate Change? (Media Matters)



• GOP Demonizes Once Favored Cap-And-Trade Policy (NPR)
• L.A. Oil Spill Exposes Gaping Hole in Pipeline Oversight:
• L.A. Spill Case Has Exposed Flaw in Pipeline Safety Oversight (Inside Climate News):
  Company responsible for the spill didn’t know its dormant pipeline was full of oil before it leaked across a Los Angeles neighborhood.
  …
  When a company buys a pipeline that’s already shut down, “there is no [federal] requirement that a third party verify whether that pipeline has been purged or properly cleaned out,” Hahn said in a statement.
• Pipeline breaks, spills crude oil into Los Angeles neighborhood (Reuters May 15, 2014)
• Lone Wolf OR7 Now Has Puppies, AND Endangered Species Protection in CA:
• Meet wolf OR7’s new pups; California moves to protect species (Sacramento Bee):
  “There is no species more iconic in the American West than this one, the gray wolf,” said commission president Michael Sutton. “We owe it to them to do everything we can to help them recolonize their historic range in this state.”
• OR-7 – A Lone Wolf’s Story (California Fish & Game Service)
• The Incredible Journey of Gray Wolf OR-7 (Outside Magazine) [emphasis added]:
  Last year, a lone wolf became the first to enter California in nearly a century. Now, with his own Twitter feed and a new mate, he’s kind of a big deal.
  …
  As for allegations of political pressure, [Eric Loft, chief of the agency’s wildlife and fisheries division] says: “Yes, we are being pressured by stakeholders that don’t want to see wolves here. But that does not make us sway our recommendation.

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

• G7 leaders back 2015 climate deal, aim to build on U.S. momentum (Reuters):
  The world’s leading industrialised nations gave their backing on Thursday to a new global deal on climate change in 2015 after promises from the United States at the start of the week galvanised flagging momentum.
• New report on BP oil spill points to faulty blowout preventer procedures (Washington Post):
  In its report, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) said that the blowout preventer’s blind shear ram – an emergency hydraulic device with two sharp, powerful cutting blades – probably did activate on the night of April 20, contrary to the conclusions reached by some other investigations. But the device ended up puncturing the off-center pipe, sending huge volumes of oil and gas to the surface and triggering the massive oil spill, the CSB said.
• VIDEO: Latest ‘COSMOS’ Episode on Global Warming Turns a ‘Denier’ into ‘Believer’ (The BRAD BLOG)
• El Niño 70% likely to arrive in summer, says US weather forecaster (Guardian UK): Complex interaction between atmosphere and warming oceans could unleash fierce weather events
• Failure Is Not An Option: Ezra Klein’s 7 reasons America will fail on climate change (Vox.com):
  I don’t believe the United States — or the world — will do nearly enough, nearly fast enough, to hold the rise in temperatures to safe levels. I think we’re fucked. Or, at the least, I think our grandchildren are fucked.
• California State Senators Who Voted Against Fracking Moratorium Took 370% More From Oil Industry (DeSmog Blog)
• Former Navy SEAL Commander Says Keystone XL Would Be Extremely Vulnerable To Terrorist Attack (Climate Progress):
  A retired, highly-decorated Special Forces officer and member of “SEAL Team 6? has conducted an alarming new security assessment of the vulnerabilities of a completed northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline. His conclusion? It is shockingly easy for a small group of people with little or no training to attack the pipeline and cause an Exxon Valdez-sized spill into the heart of America, threatening drinking water for millions.
• Court rules BP, Andarko must face fines for U.S. gulf oil spill (Reuters):
  The companies had appealed Barbier’s ruling, arguing in part that they should not be responsible for oil spilled as a result of failed equipment on the drilling rig, which was owned by Transocean Ltd. But as co-owners of the well, BP and Anadarko would be on the hook for resulting fines, the appeals court ruled.
• 8 Things You Should Know About The Biggest Thing A President’s Ever Done On Climate Change (Climate Progress)
• China aims to cap greenhouse gas output soon, but no date set (Reuters)
• Monarch butterfly decline linked to spread of GM crops (CBC Canada):
  The main cause of the monarch butterfly’s decline is the loss of milkweed — its food — in its U.S. breeding grounds, a new study has found. That all but confirms that the spread of genetically modified crops is indirectly killing the monarch.
• North Carolina To Lift Fracking Ban And Criminalize The Disclosure Of Fracking Chemicals (Climate Progress)
• Undercover: Spies hired to infiltrate anti-coal campaign (Sydney Morning Herald):
  Former soldiers and intelligence operatives have been sent to infiltrate a network of anti-coal protesters aiming to thwart a multibillion dollar expansion of coal production in northern NSW.
• Oil Spills In Wildlife Refuge After Republicans Dismiss Need For New Regulation (Huffington Post Green):
  Two weeks after Republican lawmakers dismissed the need for new rules on drilling in national wildlife refuges, federal agencies are cleaning up a crude oil spill in a Louisiana refuge.
• China Bulldozing Hundreds Of Mountains To Expand Cities (Climate Progress):
  China is just about the same size as the United States, but livable land is in short supply. With the population and economy still growing at a rapid clip, the government has undertaken a plan to bulldoze hundreds of mountains to create land for building on.
• Australia experiences its hottest two years on record (Guardian UK):
  Australia has experienced its hottest two years on record and high temperatures are set to continue through winter in a clear sign of climate change, a report warns. May 2012 to April 2014 was the hottest 24-month period ever recorded in Australia, but that is likely to be eclipsed by the two years between June 2012 and May 2014, according to the Climate Commission’s latest report, Abnormal Autumn.
• Great Barrier Reef authority approves dredge spoil dumping from Hay Point (Guardian UK) Decision to give permit to coalport south of Mackay displays ‘astounding level of arrogance’, conservation group says
• Republicans Are Claiming the New Climate Rules Will Wreck the Economy. They’re Wrong. (Mother JOnes)
• REPORT: What’s In A Name? Global Warming vs Climate Change (Yale e360) [emphasis added]:
  We found that the term “global warming” is associated with greater public understanding, emotional engagement, and support for personal and national action than the term “climate change.”
• Should we cover all our roads with solar panels? (Vox.com)
• Feds quietly add new safety requirements for Keystone pipeline (AP) [emphasis added]:
  Inspections by the safety agency found TransCanada wasn’t using approved welding procedures to connect pipes, the letter said. The company had hired welders who weren’t qualified to work on the project because TransCanada used improper procedures to test them, the letter said. In order to qualify to work on a pipeline, welders must have recent experience using approved welding procedures and pass a test of their work.
• VIDEO: Colbert Embraces Conservative Solution to Climate Change: ‘F*ck It’ (The Colbert Report)
• How to Solve Global Warming: It’s the Energy Supply (Scientific American):
  Restraining global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius will require changing how the world produces and uses energy to power its cities and factories, heats and cools buildings, as well as moves people and goods in airplanes, trains, cars, ships and trucks, according to the IPCC. Changes are required not just in technology, but also in people’s behavior.

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).