‘Green News Report’ – October 10, 2017

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Fast-moving, deadly wildfires explode across Northern California wine country; 2017 on pace to shatter U.S. billion-dollar weather disaster record; 2017 also breaks a record for Atlantic hurricanes — and it ain’t over yet; PLUS: Trump’s EPA moves to repeal Obama’s Clean Power Plan… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): 52 environmental rules on the way out under Trump; Congress ponders future of federal flood insurance program; Are electric vehicles pushing demand over a cliff?; Complaints surge about dicamba pesticide drift killing oak trees; Farm profits at heart of debate over new fertilizer rules; Industry lawsuits try to paint activists as criminals; Transcanada scraps another pipeline; Jury convicts activist in DAPL protests; 19 species won’t receive federal endangered species protections; Nestle pays just $200 a year to bottle water near Flint, MI… PLUS: U.S. greenhouse gas emissions fall, led by utility industry… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Deadly wildfires sweep across Northern California’s Wine Country:
• 80,000 acres in 18 hours: Damage from historic California wine country wildfires comes into focus (Wildfire Today)
• Wildfires in Northern California Kill at Least 10 and Destroy 1,500 Buildings (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
  Fast-moving wildfires raged across Northern California on Monday, killing at least 10 people, sending well over 100 to hospitals, forcing up to 20,000 to evacuate and destroying more than 1,500 buildings in one of the most destructive fire emergencies in the state’s history…The fires began at about 10 p.m. Sunday and were fanned by wind gusts of more than 50 miles an hour….Reports suggested that residents had been caught unaware, many of them fleeing in cars and on foot as firefighters rushed to contain the outbreak. A number of roadways, including highways, were blocked by fire.
• VIDEO: Calistoga, CA resident Alyssa O’Gorman evacuates from wildfire (Twitter):
  If O’Gorman hadn’t been coming home from work to wake her family, “we would have been in the house trapped,” she said.
• Fast-moving wildfires kill 10, spur evacuations in Northern California (CNN)
• More than a dozen wildfires race through Northern California, death toll expected to rise (KTVU San Francisco)
• Hospitals evacuated and many injured as wildfires ravage Northern California (CNN)
• 6,000-Acre Wildfire Rips Through Orange County; 24 Structures Destroyed (NBC Los Angeles)
• Hurricane Nate kills 28 in Central America, triggering new hurricane record:
• Nate heralds latest US destruction as 2017 poised for record clean-up bill (Guardian UK)
• Nate makes nine Atlantic hurricanes in a row-unprecedented in modern era (Ars Technica):
  following Franklin’s formation two months ago, eight additional tropical systems have developed and been assigned names by the National Hurricane Center. And during this frenetic season, all of those systems have become hurricanes as well. That’s nine in a row, which is unprecedented in the modern hurricane era.
• Every hurricane and tropical storm that has hit the Atlantic this year, from A to N (Quartz)
• South Spared Widespread Devastation As Hurricane Nate Becomes Tropical Depression (NPR)
• Update on Puerto Rico, still in crisis:
• Updated statistics on Puerto Rico’s recovery (Government of Puerto Rico)
• VIDEO: Puerto Rico Gov. asks Congress for more aid, citing ‘unprecedented catastrophe’ (CNN)
• distribution
• FEMA director: ‘We filtered out’ San Juan mayor ‘a long time ago’ (Politico)
• Elon Musk says Tesla can help rebuild Puerto Rico’s grid. Governor says ‘let’s talk.’ (Utility Dive)
• Trump administration asks Congress for $29 billion in disaster aid (AP):
  The request would bring the price tag for this year’s costly hurricane season to about $44 billion – and that’s before rebuilding efforts get under way in earnest.
• Jones Act: A Law Critics Say Stifles Aid To Puerto Rico Is Back In Place (Newsy)
• NOAA: 2017 on track for billion-dollar weather disasters:
• Winds, floods and fire: US ties record for costly weather (AP):
  Howling winds, deadly floods, fire and ice so far this year have pushed the U.S. into a tie for weather disasters that topped $1 billion in damages. There have been 15 costly disasters through September, tying 2011 for the most billion-dollar weather disasters for the first nine months of a year. The record for a year is 16, and the hurricane season is not over yet.

• NOAA: U.S. has experienced six billion-dollar weather disasters since June (NOAA Twitter)
• VIDEO: 2017 Ranks in Top 3 For Most Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters in the U.S. During a Single Year (Weather Channel)
• Trump’s EPA moves to repeal Obama’s Clean Power Plan:
• E.P.A. Announces Repeal of Major Obama-Era Carbon Emissions Rule (NY Times):
  What happens next? Mr. Pruitt’s proposal for repeal will now have to go through a formal public-comment period before being finalized, a process that could take months. Mr. Pruitt will also ask the public for comment on what a replacement rule should look like, but the E.P.A. has not offered a timeline.
• VIDEO: EPA moves to repeal Obama’s Clean Power Plan coal regulations (Fox News Channel):
  “That rule really was about picking winners and losers,” Pruitt said. “The past administration was unapologetic, they were using every bit of power, authority to use the EPA to pick winners and losers on how we pick electricity in this country. That is wrong.”
• Trump’s EPA Can’t Even Cook the Books Right (The New Republic):
  The EPA fudged the numbers to prove Obama’s signature climate regulation wasn’t worth the cost, and still came up short.
• The E.P.A.’s Smoke and Mirrors on Climate (NY Times)
• Trump’s Dirty Power Plan: Another Repeal and Replace Scam (NRDC)
• DOE picking winners and losers in electricity markets:
• Rick Perry’s plan to subsidize coal and nuclear plants is bonkers (David Roberts, Vox) [emphasis added]:
  The hackery has landed. Repeat: The hackery has landed…Here’s the short summary: Perry wants utilities to pay coal and nuclear power plants for all their costs and all the power they produce, whether those plants are needed or not.
• Perry: Cost recovery rule is ‘not a directive’ for FERC (Utility Dive)
• Powelson: FERC ‘will not destroy the marketplace’ in DOE cost recovery rulemaking (Utility Dive)
• FERC Commissioners and Staff Question DOE’s Push for Cost Recovery for Coal and Nuclear (GreenTech Media)

‘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

• 52 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump (NY Times)
• After Hurricanes, Congress Ponders Future Of Flood Insurance Program (Texas Tribune)
• Are Electric Vehicles Pushing Oil Demand Over a Cliff? (Inside Climate News)
• House Committee To Consider Antiquities Act Overhaul (The HIll)
• Complaints Surge About Weed Killer Dicamba’s Damage To Oak Trees (Investigate Midwest)
• Clean Water v. Farm Profits At Heart Of Debate on New Fertilizer Rules (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
• Acidification Of Chesapeake Bay Threatens Crabs, Oysters, Other Life (Baltimore Sun)
• Industry Lawsuits Try to Paint Environmental Activism as Illegal Racket (Inside Climate News)
• Facing Tougher Regulations, Transcanada Scraps $12 Billion Oil Pipeline (Reuters)
• US Greenhouse Emissions Fall 2% In 2016, Led By Power Industry: EPA (Reuters)
• Jury Convicts Activist Who Targeted North Dakota Pipeline (AP)
• 19 Western Species Won’t Receive Federal Protections (High Country News)
• Feds Remove Protections For 10M Acres Of Sage Grouse Habita (AP)
• Nestlé Pays $200 A Year To Bottle Water Near Flint (Guardian UK)
• New EPA Plan Could Delay Cleanup Of Portland Harbor Pollution (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• 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).