‘Green News Report’ – June 8, 2017

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: As Trump steps back from the Paris Climate Agreement, Hawaii steps up; Defiant California partners with China on clean energy; Switching from coal to solar would save 52,000 lives a year; PLUS: Elections have consequences — Nevada Democrats reverse anti-solar regulations… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): VIDEO: John Oliver breaks down everything wrong with Trump’s decision to leave Paris agreement; EPA delays ozone rule; U.S. airlines reaffirm aviation emissions deal despite Trump’s Paris Agreement withdrawal; Historic heat wave sweeps Europe, Asia, Middle East; Canada moves to work directly with U.S. states on climate change; Coastal cities will flood more often and more severely; U.S. topsoil is blowing away; Trump to put infrastructure burden on cities, states… PLUS: Sec. Zinke to order review of sage grouse management plans – again… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• North Korea slams Trump’s decision to pull out of Paris accord as ‘the height of egotism’ (Washington Post)
• Acting US Ambassador To China Resigns After Trump Decision on Paris Accord (AP)
• Hawaii steps up to be 1st U.S. state to join Paris Climate Agreement:
• VIDEO: Hawaii becomes first state to enact law that aligns with Paris agreement (ABC News):
  “It is time for states and governors to lead,” Gov. David Ige said.
• Hawaii Enacts Law Committing To Goals Of Paris Climate Accord (Reuters):
  Hawaii has become the first U.S. state to enact legislation to bring its environmental standards in line with the Paris climate accord, officials said on Wednesday, less than a week after President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the global agreement.
• Governor’s statement on Paris Climate Accord (Office of the Governor of Hawaii)
• Bucking Trump, These Cities, States and Companies Commit to Paris Accord (NY Times):
  Representatives of American cities, states and companies are preparing to submit a plan to the United Nations pledging to meet the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions targets under the Paris climate accord, despite President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement.
• States’ ‘Climate Alliance’ raises questions about the Constitution’s interstate compacts clause (Washington Post)
• Defiant California partners with China on clean energy:
• As Trump Steps Back, Jerry Brown Talks Climate Change in China (NY Times)
• Calif. governor travels to China to spur more investment in renewable energy (CBS News)
• California, China Defy U.S. Climate Retreat With New Cleantech Tie-Up (Reuters):
  California said it will cooperate with China on clean technology, emissions trading and other ‘climate-positive’ opportunities as it bids to fill the gap left after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord last week.
• China Looks to Capitalize on Clean Energy as U.S. Retreats (NY Times):
  China’s devastating pollution problems began here, in coal country, where legions of workers toiled and often died to exhume the rich deposits that fueled the country’s sooty rise to economic power. Today, these muddy plains are home to a potent symbol of China’s new ambition: to bypass the United States and cement its dominant role in clean energy.
• Trump Admin. spreads falsehoods about Paris Climate Agreement, coal jobs:
• EPA chief exaggerates growth of coal jobs by tens of thousands (Climate Progress):
  Coal mining jobs increased by only a few hundred during first three months of 2017.
• Fact-checking President Trump’s claims on the Paris climate change deal (Washington Post)
• Switching from coal to solar would save 52,000 lives a year:
• Coal To Solar Switch Could Save 52,000 Us Lives Per Year (Daily Climate):
  Swapping out coal energy for solar would prevent 52,000 premature deaths in the United States every year, according to a new analysis from Michigan Technological University.
• Potential Lives Saved by Replacing Coal with Solar Photovoltaic Electricity Production (Renewable and Sustainable Solutions):
  Evolving the U.S. energy system utilizing clean, alternative technology will allow the U.S. to prevent thousands of premature deaths along with becoming a global leader in renewable technology adoption.
• Nevada: Democratic legislature reinstates solar net-metering incentives:
• Nevada legislature boosts clean energy, bringing back rooftop solar companies (Climate Progress):
  Just before Christmas in 2015, the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted to stop letting solar customers get full retail rate for electricity they put onto the grid. Instead, customers would be paid wholesale rate, as though they were power companies. (Ironically, the Nevada PUC had previously issued a report finding, even under net metering, rooftop solar customers are a net benefit to the grid.)
• Nevada Just Became the Most Exciting State for Energy Storage Policy (GreenTech Media):
  It also incentivizes storage specifically for peak capacity, so that systems will be inclined to discharge their energy at the time of greatest grid need. Alternatively, it rewards systems that provide valuable grid services like frequency regulation and voltage control, which keep the grid running smoothly as renewable penetration increases.
• Tesla, Sunrun expected to resume Nevada rooftop solar sales (Reuters)
• Sandoval says he will sign bill to bring rooftop solar back to Nevada (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• Gov. Sandoval inks regulations for Nevada solar revival (PV Magazine)

‘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

• VIDEO: John Oliver breaks down everything wrong with Trump’s decision to leave Paris agreement (Salon):
  The only real penalty for not complying with the agreed upon terms is shame, which Oliver said the president is “completely immune to the very concept of that.”
• Air Pollution: EPA Delays Ozone Rule (E&E News):
  U.S. EPA is giving states an extra year to meet Obama-era ozone regulations.
• US Airlines Affirm Aviation Emissions Deal After Trump’s Paris Pullout (Reuters):
  U.S. airlines on Tuesday affirmed their support for a plan to curb emissions from flights, under review by the administration of President Donald Trump who recently decided to take the country out of Paris climate change accord.
• Historic Heat Wave Sweeps Asia, the Middle East and Europe (Weather Underground):
  The last week of May 2017 and first week of June brought one the most extraordinary heatwaves in world history to Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The mercury shot up to an astonishing 53.5°C (128.3°F) at Turbat, Pakistan on May 28, making it Earth’s hottest temperature ever recorded in the month of May—and one of Earth’s top-five hottest reliably-measured temperatures on record, for any month.
• Post-ABC poll: Nearly 6 in 10 oppose Trump scrapping Paris agreement (Washington Post):
  Most oppose Trump decision to withdraw from major climate agreement: Opposition to Trump’s decision outpaces support for it by a roughly 2-to-1 margin, with 59 percent opposing the move and 28 percent in support…The survey also finds broad skepticism toward Trump’s argument that leaving the Paris agreement will benefit the U.S. economy.
• While Trump’s America isolates itself, Europe and China forge new climate partnership (Climate Progress):
  The announcement marks one of the few joint statements between China and the European Union. It also marks a turning point from American global leadership…The agreement is famously flexible, and lets the industrialized world off with little more than a slap on the wrist for more than a hundred years of disproportionate pollution.
• Canada’s Strategy on Climate Change: Work With American States (NY Times):
  The timing was coincidental, but the meeting had a new urgency. One day after President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord — saying he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris — the transport minister in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet visited with the mayor of Pittsburgh to discuss climate change.

• US Coastal Cities Will Flood More Often and More Severely, Study Warns (Inside Climate News):
  Cities lining the U.S. coasts should brace for a lot more flooding — from ‘nuisance’ floods that shut down streets during high tides to deluges that take lives and wipe out infrastructure.
• U.S. Pays Farmers Billions To Save The Soil. But It’s Blowing Away (NPR):
  Neil Shook was relaxing at home in Woodworth, N.D., on a Saturday afternoon just over a week ago. ‘My wife was outside and she yelled at me to come outside and take a look at this,’ he recalls. A massive brown cloud covered the horizon to the west.
• FDA Resumes Testing Foods For Weed Killer, Safety Questions Grow (Huffington Post):
  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has resumed its first-ever endeavor to evaluate how much of a controversial chemical is making its way into the U.S. food supply. And the tests can’t come soon enough as safety concerns about the herbicide known as glyphosate grow.
• Sage Grouse: Zinke To Order Review Of Conservation Plans (E&E News):
  Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke today announced a review of federal greater sage grouse conservation plans to determine in part if they are hindering energy production on public lands.
• Trump Plans to Shift Infrastructure Funding to Cities, States, Business (NY Times):
  President Trump will lay out a vision this coming week for sharply curtailing the federal government’s funding of the nation’s infrastructure and calling upon states, cities and corporations to shoulder most of the cost of rebuilding roads, bridges, railways and waterways.
• Renewable Energy Push Is Strongest in the Reddest States (NY Times):
  Some of the fastest progress on clean energy is occurring in states led by Republican governors and legislators, and states carried by Donald J. Trump in the presidential election.
• 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).