‘Green News Report’ – September 26, 2017

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Calls grow to accelerate aid for humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria; Adding danger to desperation, major Puerto Rican dam now at risk of total failure; Good news and bad from toxic Superfund sites flooded by Hurricane Harvey in Texas; PLUS: Unusually warm ocean fueling record Atlantic storm season… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): 2017 foreshadowing hurricanes to come; Textbook example of how climate misinformation spreads through right-wing media; Park Service: Obama water bottle ban had ‘significant’ benefits; Tioga oil pipeline spill cleanup still ongoing after 4 years; Houston approves buy-out of 200 flood-damaged homes; Duke Energy will post coal ash disaster maps after all; EPA sued to implement stormwater plan; Hundreds of industrial plants discharging pollutants into OH waterways; France reaffirms opposition to weedkiller glyphosate… PLUS: SC regulators investigating failed S.C. nuclear project for ‘looking to cut corners’… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Puerto Rico requests more aid, faster, in wake of Hurricane Maria’s devastation:
• Puerto Ricans’ Plea for Aid From Uncle Sam: We’re Americans, Too (Bloomberg)
• VIDEO: Devastated Puerto Rico needs unprecedented aid, says governor (PBS NewsHour)
• Trump to visit devastated Puerto Rico after tweeting about island’s debt woes (AP):
  Puerto Rico has been coping with gas, food, water shortages and widespread power and telecom outages
• Aid begins to flow to hurricane-hit Puerto Rico (Politico):
  Large amounts of federal aid began moving into Puerto Rico on Saturday, welcomed by local officials who praised the Trump administration’s response but called for the emergency loosening of rules long blamed for condemning the U.S. territory to second-class status…The federal aid effort is racing to stem a growing humanitarian crisis in towns left without fresh water, fuel, electricity or phone service.
• Hot, isolated, and running out of supplies, parts of Puerto Rico near desperation (Washington Post)
• Puerto Rico’s Agriculture and Farmers Decimated by Maria (NY Times)
• Pelosi: Deploy military to ease crisis in Puerto Rico (McClatchy DC)
• ‘This Is Chaos’: Sweltering Puerto Rico on Day 6 Without Power (Bloomberg)
• Puerto Rico’s Guajataca Dam Still a Danger After Hurricane Maria (NBC News)
• US Not Waiving Foreign Ship Restrictions for PR (AP)
• Trump suggests Puerto Rico is to blame for Hurricane Maria’s devastation:
• Trump warns Puerto Rico is in ‘deep trouble’ after Hurricane Maria (NY Daily News):
  President Donald Trump was slammed for highlighting Puerto Rico’s broken infrastructure, massive debt, and old electrical grid in his first tweets since the U.S. territory was devastated by Hurricane Maria last week…Comedian Cristela Alonozo also tweeted, “Trump’s tweets about Charlottesville showed more sympathy towards Nazis than his tweets about Puerto Rico.”
• NY Gov. Cuomo launches state-to-state relief effort for Puerto Rico:
• VIDEO: Puerto Rico Relief and Recovery Effort Announcement Governor’s Remarks (NY Gov. Youtube Channel)
• The Empire State Relief and Recovery Effort for Puerto Rico (Office of the Governor of New York)
• New York Expands Relief Efforts for Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria (NY Times)
• Cuomo announces coordinated Puerto Rico relief effort (AP):
  In a pointed hit at President Donald Trump, Cuomo also said at Sunday’s announcement: “Instead of arguing with football players, instead of obsessing about how to take health care from the poor, why don’t we put the politics aside and focus on helping Americans in desperate need.”
• TV Sunday news shows also failing Puerto Rico:
• Sunday political talk shows barely cover Hurricane Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico (Media Matters):
  The entire island is without power, a dam is in danger of bursting, and Sunday political talk shows talked about it for less than a minute
• Good news and bad for Superfund sites flooded by Harvey:
• EPA removes waste at Texas toxic sites but won’t say from where (AP):
  The agency has not provided details about which Superfund sites the material came from, why the contaminants at issue have not been identified and whether there’s a threat to human health.
• EPA clarifies earlier FEMA statement on Texas toxic sites (AP):
  The Environmental Protection Agency said Sunday it has recovered 517 containers filled with unidentified, potentially hazardous material found floating in or washed up along Texas waterways after the devastating floods from Hurricane Harvey receded. The agency’s statement sought to clarify an earlier media release saying the containers were recovered from highly contaminated toxic waste sites…EPA has still not disclosed the spills or what was in the tanks before they flooded.
• AP EXCLUSIVE: Toxic waste sites flooded in Houston area (AP, 9/3/2017)
• 2017’s oceans on track to be third warmest on record:
• VIDEO: Hurricane Harvey: A fluke or the future? (CBS News):
  In the midst of recent powerful storms, Scott Pelley looks at Hurricane Harvey’s destruction to better understand what the future may hold for coastal cities
• Category 5 hurricanes have hit 6 land areas dead-on in 2017, more than ever before (Washington Post)

‘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

• 2017 Foreshadowing ‘Caines to Come (Climate Crocks)
• Here’s a textbook example of how climate misinformation spreads through right-wing media (Media Matters)
• Park Service Report: Obama Water Bottle Ban Had ‘Significant’ Benefits (The Hill)
• Tioga oil pipeline spill cleanup nearing milestone after 4 years, but work continues (Bismarck Tribune)
• Harris County Approves Buying Out 200 Homes Impacted By Harvey (Houston Public Media)
• Duke Changes Mind; Will Post Coal Ash Disaster Maps (Charlotte Public Radio)
• Environmental advocates sue the EPA to implement stormwater plan (Boston Globe)
• 100s of Wastewater Plants Discharge Pollutants to NE Ohio Lakes, Rivers (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
• France Reaffirms Opposition To License Renewal For Weedkiller Glyphosate (Reuters)
• In World’s Hottest Oil Patch, Jitters Mount That a Bust Is Near (Bloomberg)
• After Hurricane Maria, what will it take to turn Puerto Rico’s power back on? (The Verge)
• Companies building failed S.C. nuclear project ‘were looking to cut corners’ as state’s top cops asked to investigate (Post-and-Courier, South Carolina)
• The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat (Politico):
  Could carbon dioxide have an effect on human health we haven’t accounted for yet? The answer appears to be yes…
• The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak – sooner than you think.
• 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).