‘Green News Report’ – May 9, 2017

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: France votes for climate action in Presidential election; Wildfires force evacuations in Florida and Georgia; Extreme storms and flooding kill 13 in the Midwest; Time is running out to speak up for EPA regulations you’d like to keep; PLUS: Conservative climate group trolls Trump on climate change denial… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): GOP senator says ‘the Indians’ should ‘just take my word for it’ on sacred tribal lands; Carbon pollution is suffocating ocean life and speeding up the next mass extinction; Thawing Alaska permafrost causes state’s CO2 emissions to surge; Climate change raises fears of dam failures in CA; Trump to soon decide fate of US participation in Paris Agreement; Trump appoints Clean Power Plan critic to serve on crucial federal energy regulator board… PLUS: Bannon is pulling one over on Trump. There is zero reason to exit the Paris climate accord… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Record rains and deadly floods again soak in the Midwest:
• Extreme Weather Flooding the Midwest Looks a Lot Like Climate Change (Inside Climate News):
  As global temperatures rise and the oceans warm, what used to be 500-year floods are now happening more frequently.
• Two catastrophic floods in less than two years wasn’t just a case of bad luck (St. Louis Post-Dispatch):
  In a span of just 16 months, the people of cities like Eureka, Pacific and Valley Park have twice braced for and dealt with so-called “100-year” floods that have left damage, financial loss and heartache in their wake. Now, as the floodwater recedes in some communities, residents are left wondering how soon the next catastrophic flood will arrive.

  Answers from experts are not reassuring.

• Mississippi River cresting in flood-hit Illinois, southern Missouri (CNN)
• Historic Flooding Far From Over: Hundreds of Roads Closed and Vital Waterways Shut Down (Weather Channel)
• Wildfires in the Southeast: Evacuations near Okefenokee:
• Georgia wildfire: Hot, dry conditions vexing to firefighters (AP)
• Photos: South Georgia wildfire rages in Okefenokee swamp (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Okefenokee wildfire spreads, forces evacuations in Georgia (NCC):
  A mandatory evacuation was ordered and classes canceled as hundreds of firefighters battled a massive wildfire Monday near the southeastern Georgia town of St. George, officials said.
• France votes for climate action in presidential election:
• VIDEO: French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron tells US climate scientists: ‘Please come to France’ (Independent UK)
• Scientists relieved by Emmanuel Macron’s French election victory (Nature)
• Emmanuel Macron tells Donald Trump he’ll defend ‘important’ Paris climate change deal (ABC Australia)
• EPA deletes climate change website for kids, Chicago steps in:
• The EPA Just Buried Its Climate Change Website For Kids (Washington Post):
  The Environmental Protection Agency has sidelined a website aimed at teaching schoolchildren about climate change, a public watchdog group has determined, as part of the agency’s efforts to align online content with the new administration’s values.
• EPA dismisses scientists from review board:
• E.P.A. Dismisses Members of Major Scientific Review Board (NY Times):
  A spokesman for the E.P.A. administrator, Scott Pruitt, said he would consider replacing the academic scientists with representatives from industries whose pollution the agency is supposed to regulate, as part of the wide net it plans to cast.
• Agency fires science advisers (E&E News):
  The agency quietly forced out some members of the Board of Scientific Counselors just weeks after leaders told them their tenure would be renewed, said Robert Richardson, an ecological economist at Michigan State University and one of those dismissed. The board is tasked with reviewing the work of EPA scientists and provides feedback that can be a powerful voice in shaping the agency’s future research.
• EPA Dismisses Half Of Its Scientific Advisers On Key Board (Washington Post):
  Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has chosen to replace half of the members on one of its key scientific review boards, the first step in a broader effort by Republicans to change the way the agency evaluates the scientific basis for its regulations.
• Last chance to speak up for EPA regulations you’d like to keep:
• COMMENT HERE: Evaluation of Existing Regulations (Regulations.gov):
  To submit a comment, go to regulations.gov. Enter Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OA-2017-0190 in the search bar and click on “Add Comment.”
• Is EPA Moving Too Fast on Deregulation to Listen to Public? (Bloomberg News):
  The agency is soliciting comments on regulations that should be reviewed for possible elimination through a series of listening sessions, though it’s unclear what exactly it will do with the comments it receives. After the Environmental Protection Agency’s public comment period ends, it will have less than two weeks to synthesize all of that feedback into a report due to the White House at the end of this month.
• Op-ed: EPA budget cuts would burden us all (Utica Observer-Dispatch)
• EPA Asks What Rules To Cut, Gets Earful About Dirty Water (AP):
  The Trump administration got an earful Tuesday from people who say federal rules limiting air and water pollution aren’t tough enough, even as it was seeking suggestions about what environmental regulations it should gut.
• Conservative climate advocacy group trolls Trump on climate denial:
• VIDEO: Conservatives are trolling Trump with climate change ads on Fox News and Morning Joe (The Verge):
  A conservative group that wants to see the US government address climate change is trying to reach the president through his favorite medium: TV. The Partnership for Responsible Growth will air a series of five climate change ads in Washington, DC over the next five weeks, targeted at the networks and shows President Donald Trump is known to watch: Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC’s Morning Joe. The group announced its troll today.
• Partnership for Responsible Growth (Partnership for Responsible Growth)

‘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

• GOP senator says ‘the Indians’ should ‘just take my word for it’ on sacred tribal lands (Climate Progress):
  “The Indians, they don’t fully understand that a lot of the things that they currently take for granted on those lands, they won’t be able to do if it’s made clearly into a monument or a wilderness,” Hatch said on Sunday. “Once you put a monument there, you do restrict a lot of things that could be done, and that includes use of the land… Just take my word for it.”
• Carbon pollution is suffocating ocean life and speeding up the next mass extinction (Climate Progress):
  Oxygen levels ‘falling 2 to 3 times faster than predicted’ in our warming oceans, study finds.
• Thawing Alaska Permafrost Sends Autumn CO2 Emissions Surging (Inside Climate News):
  Emissions from thawing permafrost are now outpacing the uptake of carbon dioxide during the growing season, a new study suggests
• Bannon is pulling one over on Trump. There is zero reason to exit the Paris climate accord. (Vox):
  Even if, like Trump, you think climate change is a hoax; even if, like Trump, you think pollution regulations kill jobs; even if, like Trump, you want to Make America Great Again — there’s just no reason to do it. It will cause serious damage in exchange for absolutely no practical advantage. The only person who stands to gain from it is Bannon. If the US leaves Paris, it will be because he played Trump for a fool.
• U.S. will lose jobs if it quits Paris climate deal: U.N. (Reuters):
  The United States will shoot itself in the foot if it quits the Paris climate accord because China, India and Europe will snap up the best power sector jobs in future, U.N. Environment chief Erik Solheim said on Thursday.
• Climate Change Erodes Thin Safety Margins At California Dam (E&E News):
  The heavier rains that could accompany climate change are raising serious concerns about whether California’s Trinity Dam can safely handle them…”Trinity Dam cannot safely pass the probable maximum flood,” the report said, “which is a [safety of dam] concern.”
• White House Again Postpones Meeting To Decide On Paris Climate Pact (Reuters):
  A meeting of Trump administration advisers that had been scheduled for Tuesday to decide whether to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement has been postponed due to scheduling conflicts, a White House official said.
• FERC: Trump taps natural gas promoter to serve on Commission (E&E News):
  President Trump last night announced his intent to nominate a top adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and a Pennsylvania regulator to be members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
• U.S. Vows Commitment To Arctic Climate Change Research (Reuters):
  The United States will participate in advancing climate change research in the Arctic, a State Department official said on Monday, ahead of a summit of Arctic nations later this week where Washington’s commitment to tackling climate change will likely be questioned.
• America’s farmers are caught between the changing climate and Trump’s denial (Climate Porgress):
  The Obama administration tried to make climate change a priority at USDA. What happens now that Trump is in charge?
• Debate Over Paris Climate Deal Could Turn on a Single Phrase (NY Times):
  The issue was discussed intensely in Paris, he explained. “There were countries that wanted to say, ‘Thou shalt not, you are precluded from adjusting now.’ We did not want to do that,” he said. Downward adjustment had already occurred with climate commitments. Japan, after losing nuclear power facilities in the Fukushima disaster, had to adjust its targets downward.
• U.S. Vulnerable to Worst of Extreme Sea Rise (Climate Central):
  A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report warned that regional effects of gravity and ocean current changes triggered by the start of the ice sheet’s collapse could lead to more than 12 feet of sea level rise engulfing some coastlines in the Lower 48. That’s about the height of a one-story house.
• 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.
• 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).