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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: State Attorneys General unite to investigate ExxonMobil for climate change fraud; Debunking another Republican EPA lie that won’t die; 7 million Americans at risk of fracking earthquakes; Sea levels could rise six feet by 2100 because…Antarctica; PLUS: Scotland closes its last coal plant… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Choking to Death in Detroit: Flint Isn’t Michigan’s Only Disaster; Flint Official: State Overruled Plan For Corrosion Control; Exxon Must Hold Shareholder Vote on Climate Change Resolutions, SEC Says; Program Will Make Cutting Carbon Emissions Lucrative For Farmers; Climate Policy’s Advocates Take Page From Same-Sex Marriage Playbook; Toxic Chemical Still in Can Linings of Popular Foods; Trump Finds Common Ground With Cruz in Opposition to Carbon Tax… PLUS: “Epidemic†of Premature Births is Increasingly Linked to Air Pollution… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- State Attorneys General Unite to Investigate ExxonMobil for Climate Change Fraud:
- VIDEO: Al Gore And Coalition Of AG ‘s Announce Historic Effort To Combat Climate Change (ClimateTruth.org)
- Climate Fraud Investigation of Exxon Draws Attention of 18 Attorneys General (InsideClimate News) [emphasis added]:
“You have to tell the truth, you can’t make misrepresentations of the kinds we’ve seen here,” [NY AG Eric Schneiderman] said on Tuesday. “The scope of the problem we are facing, the size of the corporate entities and their alliances, the trade associations and other groups, is massive and it requires a multistate effort.”
- State AGs Vow To Tackle Climate Change And Fossil Fuel Industry Fraud (Climate Progress)
- Exxon Mobil Climate Change Inquiry in New York Gains Allies (NY Times):
Part of that inquiry includes the company’s funding, for at least a decade, of outside groups that worked to dispute climate science, even as its in-house scientists were describing the possible consequences of climate change, along with the areas of uncertainty.
- Exxon’s Own Research Confirmed Fossil Fuels’ Role in Global Warming Decades Ago (InsideClimate News)
- Exxon’s Oil Industry Peers Knew About Climate Dangers in the 1970s, Too (InsideClimate News)
- Big Oil braced for global warming while it fought regulations (LA Times)
- Debunking Ted Cruz’ EPA Lie That Won’t Die:
- VIDEO: CNN Republican Presidential Town Hall With Ted Cruz (Election News)
- Clean Water Rule Fact Check [PDF] (Environmental Protectin Agency)
- False: Marco Rubio says EPA rule covers ‘water barely bigger than a puddle’ (Politifact) [emphasis added]:
The first thing to know about the new rule is that size doesn’t matter. What matters is whether a body of water can carry pollution into other larger waters…”The proposed rule did not explicitly exclude puddles because the agencies have never considered puddles to meet the minimum standard for being a ‘water of the United States’…The final rule does so.”
- Muddying the Clean Water Act (FactCheck.org)
- Sea Levels could Rise 6 Feet By 2100 Because Of Antarctica:
- Scientists nearly double sea level rise projections for 2100, because of Antarctica (Washington Post) [emphasis added]:
Scientists behind a new study published in the journal Nature used sophisticated computer models to decipher a longstanding riddle about how the massive, mostly uninhabited continent surrendered so much ice during previous warm periods on Earth. They found that similar conditions in the future could lead to monumental and irreversible increases in sea levels.
- Antarctica at Risk of Runaway Melting, Scientists Discover (Climate Central):
The same models showed that Antarctica’s ice sheet would remain largely intact if the most ambitious goals of last year’s Paris agreement on climate change are achieved.
- The alarming science driving much higher sea level projections for this century (Washington Post)
- Climate Model Predicts West Antarctic Ice Sheet Could Melt Rapidly (NY Times):
The paper published Wednesday does contain some good news. A far more stringent effort to limit emissions of greenhouse gases would stand a fairly good chance of saving West Antarctica from collapse.
- USGS: 7 Million At Risk Of Man-Made Fracking Earthquakes:
- Induced Earthquakes Raise Chances of Damaging Shaking in 2016 (US Geological Survey) [emphasis added]:
For the first time, new USGS maps identify potential ground-shaking hazards from both human-induced and natural earthquakes. In the past, USGS maps only identified natural earthquake hazards.
- 7 million Americans are now at risk from man-made earthquakes, says USGS (Vox)
- Many Man-Made Earthquakes in Western Canada Now Linked to Fracking (InsideClimate News):
New study says at least 39 fracked wells in Alberta and British Columbia likely triggered earthquakes in recent years.
- Ecuador Establishes New Marine Sanctuary To Protect Sharks:
- New Galápagos Sanctuary Has World’s Highest Abundance of Sharks (National Geographic):
A new sanctuary now protects the unique marine life around the Galápagos Islands, including the highest abundance of sharks known in the world.
- Ecuador just created a huge new Galapagos marine reserve — around an island named Darwin (Washington Post):
However, while industrial fishing was banned inside the reserve, smaller-scale artisanal fishing was still permitted throughout most of the area. The new sanctuary will designate several areas within the marine reserve as “no-take†zones, meaning no fishing will be permitted at all.
- Scotland Closes Its Last Coal Plant:
- After 115 Years, Scotland Is Coal-Free (Climate Progress):
After some 115 years, Scotland has burned its last lump of coal for electricity. The Longannet power station, the last and largest coal-fired power plant in Scotland, ceased operations Thursday. What once was the largest coal plant in Europe shut down after 46 years before the eyes of workers and journalists, who gathered in the main control room.
- Fears of lights going out played down amid closures of coal-fired power plants (Herald Scotland)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- Choking to Death in Detroit: Flint Isn’t Michigan’s Only Disaster (Newsweek) [emphasis added]:
There are 52 sites of heavy industry within a 3-mile radius; 22 of these either produce over 25,000 pounds or handle more than 10,000 pounds of toxic chemical waste, putting them on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory Program.
- Flint Official: State Overruled Plan For Corrosion Control (AP):
An official with Flint’s water plant said Tuesday he had planned to treat the drinking water with anti-corrosive chemicals after the city began drawing from the Flint River but was overruled by a state environmental regulator.
- Exxon Must Hold Shareholder Vote on Climate Change Resolutions, SEC Says (InsideClimate News):
ExxonMobil must allow shareholders to vote on at least two prominent resolutions on climate change, the Securities and Exchange Commission ruled…Separately, the Rockefeller Family Fund said it will divest its holdings in Exxon, calling the company’s behavior on climate change “morally reprehensible.”
- What Florida’s ancient past tells us about sea-level rise today (Washington Post)
- This Program Will Make Cutting Carbon Emissions Lucrative For Farmers (Climate Progress):
The program encourages rice farmers in California and the Mid-South to adopt a series of greenhouse-gas mitigating practices on their fields by allowing them to cash in on the carbon emissions that they offset using California’s carbon market.Climate Policy’s Advocates Take Page From Same-Sex Marriage Playbook (NY Times):
- Supreme Court Sympathetic To Property Owner In Wetlands Dispute (Retuers):
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared likely to rule that property owners can challenge the federal government in court over the need for permits under a national water protection law in a case involving a company’s plans for a Minnesota peat mine.
- Toxic Chemical Still in Can Linings of Popular Foods (Enviornmental News Service):
A new report from six health and environmental groups finds 67 percent of nearly 200 food cans from dozens of brands and retailers tested positive for Bisphenol A, a hormone-disrupting chemical linked to increased risk of breast and prostate cancers, infertility and type-2 diabetes.
- Trump Finds Common Ground With Cruz in Opposition to Carbon Tax (Bloomberg):
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz oppose a carbon tax, putting them in league with the Republican National Committee on the issue but at odds with some oil companies and economists who view a levy on those heat-trapping emissions as an effective way to combat climate change.
- Mexico City Temporarily Restricts All Cars After Smog Alert (AP):
Metropolitan authorities on Wednesday temporarily ordered all cars to remain idle one day a week in response to this notoriously smoggy capital’s worst air-quality crisis in over a decade.
- For Latin American Environmentalists, Death Is A Constant Companion (Washington Post):
Long before gunmen burst into Berta Cáceres Flores’s house in rural Honduras, Beverly Bell gave up any hope that her friend would live to an old age. “This was a marked woman,†said Bell, who kept a long list of the death threats. “Everyone knew it.â€
- “Epidemic†of Premature Births is Increasingly Linked to Air Pollution (Earth Island Journal):
16,000 preterm births a year are linked to fine particulate pollution, costing the US $4.33 billion annually.
- Feds Sue Volkswagen Over ‘Clean Diesel’ Ads (The Hill):
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued Volkswagen Group of America, accusing the car manufacturer of running deceiving advertisements for so-called “clean diesel†vehicles that in fact were designed to evade federal emissions tests.
- Want to fight climate change? Here are the 7 critical life changes you should make (Grist) [emphasis added]:
So, given the imperfections of this world, what is a lone wolf such as yourself to do? Here are some conclusions gleaned from this study: 1. Buy the most fuel-efficient car you can afford, then drive it as little as possible….
)Two months ahead of a federal court hearing on President Obama’s signature climate change rule, a coordinated public relations offensive has begun — modeled after the same-sex marriage campaign — to influence the outcome of the case.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
But exactly how bad is still an open question, and a lot depends not only on how we react, but how quickly. The rate at which humans cut down on greenhouse gas emissions–if we do choose to cut them–will have a large bearing on how the world turns out by 2100, the forecasts reveal.
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.
Very well done.
This just in: AP is reporting that Secret Service responded early this morning to a scream from the Clinton bedroom….a small green birdie was discovered at the foot of her bed….ornithologists were immediately called in, and birdie was identified as the rare Wisconsin Harbinger, formerly believed by many to be extinct due to habitat destruction….they determined that it must have blown in overnight during an unprecedented WINDSTORM of Sanders fundraising!…
Police reported a similar disturbance earlier today at the Clooney estate….that particular bird turned out to be not a bird at all, but just a middle finger….with millions of fingerprints, according to investigators….damages incurred by the actor were limited to soiled sheets, reputation and ego, all determined to be self-inflicted….his spokesperson declined comment, citing conflict of disinterest…
Source: MZ / AP rilfools