‘Green News Report’ – October 25, 2016

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: More than 120 arrested at pipeline protest in North Dakota; More arrests at tar sands pipeline protest in Ottawa, Canada; Toxic gas pipeline rupture kills 1 in Nebraska; China further restricts new coal-fired power plants; PLUS: EPA waited seven months to warn Flint residents their water was contaminated with lead… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The WikiLeaks emails reveal why Hillary Clinton wouldn’t support a carbon tax; Florida Ballot Measure Could Halt Rooftop Solar, but Do Voters Know That?; NY Attorney General: “Dark Money Machine” Is Using Media To Defend Exxon’s Climate Deceit; Pennsylvania Ruling on Eminent Domain Puts Contentious Pipeline Project on Alert; Air pollution more deadly in Africa than malnutrition or dirty water, study warns; As climate change floods Florida, Marco Rubio refuses to acknowledge science… PLUS: The left vs. a carbon tax: The odd, agonizing political battle playing out in Washington state… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• FAIL: Zero questions about climate change in 2016 Presidential Debates:
• Climate Silence Goes Way Beyond Debate Moderators (NY Times):
  Zoom in on these words: “Global warming is No. 6 on the priority list among liberal Democrats.”… a large and growing body of evidence, that finds that silence is not accidental but has been socially constructed to create distance and defend ourselves from uncomfortable truths.
• Climate Silence Witnessed At Presidential Debates Extends To Key Battleground States (Media Matters)
• ‘Criminally irresponsible’ media avoid climate debate questions (Climate Progress)
• That’s 4 debates without a single question on climate change. Good job, everyone. (Vox):
  But if you’re worried about the future, why not talk about global warming? It’s an issue that will affect not just your kids and grandkids but the next 10,000 years of life on this planet…Small tweaks to shore up Social Security seem quaint by comparison.
• Inspector General: EPA waited seven months to warn Flint about lead contamination:
• Management Alert: Drinking water contamination in Flint, Michigan, demonstrates need to clarify EPA authority to issue emergnecy orders to protect the public [PDF] (U.S. EPA Office of Inspector General)
• E.P.A. Waited Too Long to Warn of Flint Water Danger, Report Says (NY Times):
  In a pointed rebuke to the Environmental Protection Agency, an internal watchdog concluded on Thursday that the agency should have acted more swiftly to warn residents of Flint, Mich., that their water was contaminated with lead.
• 127 arrested at Dakota Access pipeline protests:
• Standing Rock calls on Justice Department to probe arrests, abuse by law enforcement (Climate Progress)
• Videos: Water Protectors road blockade (BS Norrell, Censored News)
• The Dakota Access Pipeline Should’ve Happened 10 Years Ago (Slate):
  There’s another way the conflict over the Dakota Access Pipeline echoes a theme in American economic development. Americans have long had a tendency to exploit and develop the hell out of a natural resource before building the infrastructure that can carry the goods to market.
• Ottawa: 99 arrested at Kinder Morgan pipeline protest:
• VIDEO: Dozens of oil pipeline protesters arrested on Parliament Hill (Ottawa Citizen)
• Dozens of Students Arrested in Ottawa Protesting Kinder Morgan Pipeline (Common Dreams)
• Nebraska: poisonous gas cloud from pipeline rupture kills 1:
• Area remains restricted surrounding pipeline rupture (Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Air quality around pipeline leak improving; US 75 reopened (Lincoln Journal-Star)
• China further restricts new coal-fired power plants:
• China increases limits on construction of coal-fired power plants (Rueters):
  China will further limit construction of coal-fired power plants by cancelling some projects that were already approved this year, its national energy bureau said on Thursday, as Beijing ramps up a years-long effort to shift to cleaner fuels.

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

• The WikiLeaks emails reveal why Hillary Clinton wouldn’t support a carbon tax (Vox):
  During the Democratic primary, one of the major climate policy differences between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton was a carbon tax. He supported one. She didn’t. Now we have a little insight into why, via WikiLeaks’ recent release of thousands of hacked personal emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta. “We have done extensive polling on a carbon tax,” Podesta apparently told Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan back in January 2015. “It all sucks.”
• Florida Ballot Measure Could Halt Rooftop Solar, but Do Voters Know That? (Inside Climate News):
  Amendment 1 is written in pro-solar language, but it is backed by the state’s utilities and opponents say it will crush the growth of solar in the Sunshine State.
• NY Attorney General: “Dark Money Machine” Is Using Media To Defend Exxon’s Climate Deceit (Media Matters):
  During an October 19 forum on public integrity, Schneiderman explained that fossil fuel front groups are “directing a disinformation campaign aimed at bolstering Exxon’s case”…
• Pennsylvania Ruling on Eminent Domain Puts Contentious Pipeline Project on Alert (Inside Climate News):
  The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has unanimously ruled unconstitutional a section of state law that lets companies seize private land for certain natural gas projects, with potentially major implications for one of the biggest proposed pipelines in the state.
• Air pollution more deadly in Africa than malnutrition or dirty water, study warns (Guardian UK):
  Annual human and economic cost of tainted air runs to 712,000 lost lives and £364bn, finds Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/
• As climate change floods Florida, Marco Rubio refuses to acknowledge science (Climate Progress):
  Rubio said cutting emissions won’t help sea level rise.
• The left vs. a carbon tax: The odd, agonizing political battle playing out in Washington state. (David Roberts, Vox):
  This is not an election year in which it is easy to get attention, unless your name rhymes with Gump. Nevertheless, it’s worth taking note of a colorful, contentious, and counterintuitive political drama playing out in the top left corner of the country.
• Batteries May Trip ‘Death Spiral’ in $3.4 Trillion Credit Market (Bloomberg):
  Battery technologies starting to disrupt the electricity and automobile industries may also emerge as a trillion-dollar threat to credit markets, according to Fitch Ratings.
• Judge approves Volkswagen’s $14.7 billion diesel settlement, automaker to start buy-back (Sacramento Bee):
  Under the settlement approved by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, the automaker will spend up to $10 billion repurchasing as many as 475,000 polluting Volkswagens and Audis. It will spend another $4.7 billion on a host of government programs designed to offset air pollution and promote zero-emission vehicles, of which about $1.1 billion will be spent in California. The settlement was first announced in June.
• GAO: Other Cities Face Problems That Led To Flint Crisis (The Hill):
  Numerous cities face financial problems similar to the ones that led to the Flint, Mich., drinking water crisis, a government watchdog report found.
• Scientists Warn Against Relying on Removing CO2 From Atmosphere (Washington Post):
  Scientists in a new paper warn that the widely discussed idea of relying on carbon-removal technology in future years to remove climate-altering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is a mistake.
• No country on Earth is taking the 2 degree climate target seriously (Vox):
  If we mean what we say, no more new fossil fuels, anywhere.

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

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