‘Green News Report’ – April 18, 2017

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Lake Michigan beaches closed after toxic chemical spill; BP’s newest oil spill in Alaska finally shut down after 3 days; US nuclear company bankruptcy raises questions over unfinished reactors; Good news: March 2017 was not the hottest on record! Bad news: it was 2nd hottest; PLUS: London’s famous black cabs are going electric… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Science Strikes Back: Anti-Trump March Draws Thousands To Washington; Trump Advisers To Meet Tuesday To Discuss Paris Climate Agreement; DOE Sec. Perry Orders Electric Grid Study to Boost Coal; Saudis Target 30 Solar, Wind Projects in $50 Billion Pledge; Battle Over Endangered Species Law Already Raging Out Of Public Eye; Exodus From Canada’s Oil Sands Continues as Energy Giants Shed Assets; In The Rockies, Climate Change Spells Trouble For Cutthroat Trout… PLUS: Canada Glacier Melt Rerouted In Rare Case Of ‘River Piracy’…. and much, MUCH more! …

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

• BP finally kills oil well blowout on Alaska’s North Slope:
• BP Kills Alaska Well After Capping Oil, Natural Gas Leaks (Bloomberg):
  The crude spray was discovered Friday morning, and capped early Sunday. A second leak that was emitting gas at a reduced rate was closed off overnight on Sunday, spokeswoman Dawn Patience said in an email. The well was originally completed in 1976 and was currently producing the equivalent of about 500 barrels of oil a day, she said.
• Gas Leak At BP Oil Well In Alaska Has Been Stopped (NPR)
• BP trying to get leaking oil well under control on Alaska’s North Slope (Washington Post)
• Indiana: US Steel toxic chemical spill closes Lake Michigan beaches:
• U.S. Steel Chemical Spill Closes Beaches, EPA Measuring Toxic Damage (Chicago Tribune):
  A spill at the U.S. Steel plant in Portage this week leaked a toxic chemical into Burns Waterway, a Lake Michigan tributary, forcing the closure of beaches in and around the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and leaving officials scrambling to determine the extent of damage caused to the local environment.
• Indiana Dunes beaches reopen after U.S. Steel chemical spill (NW Indiana Times)
• VIDEO: EPA: No ‘significant’ chemical discharge from US Steel spill (ABC7 Chicago):
  Chicago tested its water intake about a mile from the spill, finding low levels of the chemical that don’t come close to exceeding the federal standard.
• Editorial: A chemical spill, too close for comfort (Chicago Tribune)
• Indiana Dunes Chemical Spill: What is Hexavalent Chromium? (WTTW Chicago)
• U.S. Steel Slammed Over Dangerous Chromium Spill Near Lake Michigan (Chicagoist)
• Westinghouse bankruptcy raises questions over unfinished Georgia reactors:
• Westinghouse bankruptcy could grind US nuclear sector to a halt (Utility Dive):
  The contractor’s financial woes could sink the Vogtle and Summer plants and ‘doom’ new nuclear construction/
• Westinghouse Bankruptcy Shakes The Nuclear World (Forbes)
• Westinghouse bankruptcy: What does it mean for US nuclear power? (CS Monitor)
The company’s struggles have reignited the debate over nuclear power, with some framing Westinghouse’s bankruptcy filing as the end of the line for nuclear power and others seeing it as a temporary setback for the industry.
• A Bankruptcy That Wrecked Global Prospects Of American Nuclear Energy (Forbes)
• Nuclear power is dying. Can radical innovation save it? (Vox)
• March 2017 second hottest March on record:
• March Was Second Hottest on Record Globally (Climate Central):
  The exceptional global heat of the past few years continued last month, with March ranking as the second hottest on record for the planet. It followed the second hottest February and third hottest January, showing just how much Earth has warmed from the continued buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• Earth just had its second-warmest March on record, which isn’t a great sign (Mashable):
  So much for a global warming slowdown. New data released on Friday shows that March 2017 was the second-warmest on record, behind March of last year…The two top March temperature anomalies have occurred during the past two years.
• Arctic meltdown: record low sea ice, mysterious new crack in Greenland:
• Arctic meltdown: Sea and land ice are cracking up at a record pace (Climate Progress):
  The images from the Arctic ice death spiral are haunting. The impacts will be terrifying…Last month set records for the lowest Arctic sea ice extent ever in March, as well as the lowest sea ice volume and lowest sea ice thickness.
• VIDEO: NASA just snapped the first photos of a mysterious crack in one of Greenland’s largest glaciers (Washington PostP):
  The first photographs of a new and ominous crack in Greenland’s enormous Petermann Glacier were captured by a NASA airborne mission Friday.
• Heat from the Atlantic Ocean is melting Arctic sea ice further eastwards than ever before (The Conversation)
• EPA air pollution regulations are succeeding:
• AAPCA Releases New Report on Air Quality Progress: The Greatest Story Seldom Told highlights key metrics and success stories from state & local air quality agencies ((Association of Air Pollutoin Control Agencies)
• REPORT: The Greatest Story Seldom Told: Profiles and Success Stories in Air Pollution Control (PDF] (Association of Air Pollutoin Control Agencies)
• Report Says Tremendous Progress Has Been Made In Reducing Air Pollution
• London’s iconic black cabs go all-electric in 2018:
• Farewell to the belching black cab: Electric taxis coming to London (CBC):
  Diesel cabs to be replaced with zero-emission, no-noise vehicles…”Taxi drivers are welcoming them is because they’re aware. They’re the ones sitting in London’s really filthy roads, polluting the roads for most of the day,” said Kiely. “It’s actually the people who are inside of these vehicles [who] can be exposed to a lot higher levels of pollution than people who are walking outside or cycling outside.”
• London Taxi Company opens first dedicated electric vehicle factory in the UK (Wired UK):
  The new factory will produce the TX5 electric London Black cabs – which are so cool, they had to be tested in icy Arctic environments
• London Taxi Company opens £300m electric black cab factory in Coventry (Telegraph UK)

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

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Daily Headlines page

• Science Strikes Back: Anti-Trump March Draws Thousands To Washington (Guardian UK):
  On Saturday, thousands of scientists are set to abandon the cloistered neutrality of their laboratories to plunge into the the political fray against Donald Trump in what will likely be the largest ever protest by science advocates.
• Trump Advisers To Meet Tuesday To Discuss Paris Climate Agreement (Reuters):
  Advisers to President Donald Trump will meet on Tuesday to discuss whether to recommend that he withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, a White House official said on Monday.
• Canada Glacier Melt Rerouted In Rare Case Of ‘River Piracy’ (AP):
  Scientists have witnessed the first modern case of what they call ‘river piracy’ and they blame global warming. Most of the water gushing from a large glacier in northwest Canada last year suddenly switched from one river to another.
• Electric Grid Study Ordered by U.S. Energy Chief to Boost Coal (Bloomberg):
  U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry is ordering a study of the U.S. electric grid, with an eye to examining whether policies that favor wind and solar energy are accelerating the retirement of coal and nuclear plants critical to ensuring steady, reliable power supplies.
• VIDEO: Saudis Target 30 Solar, Wind Projects in $50 Billion Pledge (Bloomberg):
  Saudi Arabia will develop 30 solar and wind projects over the next 10 years as part of the kingdom’s $50 billion program to boost power generation and cut its oil consumption.
• Battle Over Endangered Species Law Already Raging Out Of Public Eye (E&E News):
  With most of Washington focused on fights over government funding, Obamacare and Russian meddling, a few congressional aides and outside advocates are quietly preparing for what could be an epic battle over the Endangered Species Act.
• In The Rockies, Climate Change Spells Trouble For Cutthroat Trout (NPR):
  There’s an unplanned experiment going on in the northern Rocky Mountains. What’s happening is that spring is arriving earlier, and it’s generally warmer and drier than usual. And that’s messing with some of the fish that live there.
• Exodus From Canada’s Oil Sands Continues as Energy Giants Shed Assets (Inside Climate News):
  Over the past year, five multinational energy companies have sold off nearly $25 billion worth of their Canadian assets to domestic companies.
• Vietnam PM Halts $10.6 Billion Steel Plant On Environmental Concern (Reuters):
  Vietnam’s prime minister halted work at a $10.6 billion steel plant on concern over its environmental impact, in an effort to prevent another ‘Formosa incident’, local media reported, citing a government statement.
• Leaked Trump administration plan to close Chicago EPA office puts 1,000 jobs at risk (Climate Progress):
  Region 5 has only 500 employees, while Region 7 employs 1,000 staffers. “You could imagine how 500 people would be able to handle all the issues going on in 10 states,” she said. “It would be virtually impossible. Therefore, it would put people’s lives at stake. For the people who live in the six states, there won’t be an environmental cop on the beat.”
• A beginner’s guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
  Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it’s possible for the whole world to run on renewables — we merely lack the “political will.” So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.
• Analysis: Just four years left of the 1.5C carbon budget (Carbon Brief):
  Four years of current emissions would be enough to blow what’s left of the carbon budget for a good chance of keeping global temperature rise to 1.5C.
• 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).