‘Green News Report’ – September 6, 2018

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Supreme Court spells big trouble for environmental standards and climate action; PLUS: Extreme weather slams into Japan, and the Gulf Coast, and Wisconsin… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): 8 states fight Trump’s attempt to declaw Migratory Bird Treaty; Farm bill proposal could wipe out communities’ power to ban pesticides; ACLU: Government plotted to surveil, disrupt Keystone XL protesters; 8 bird species are rirst confirmed avian extinctions this decade; Dozens of elephants killed near Botswana wildlife sanctuary; Zinke hires critic of Endangered Species Act for senior post; Dire climate change warnings cut from Trump power-plant proposal… PLUS: A global shift to sustainability would save us $26 trillion… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• VIDEO: Trump tilts at windmills at rally in Evansville, Indiana (C-SPAN, at about 1 hour, 2 minutes in)
• SCOTUS: Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation spells big trouble for the environment and climate action:
• VIDEO: Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearing, Day 2, Part 1 (C-SPAN)
• Kavanaugh Defends His Environmental Record (E&E News)
• Kavanaugh tackles doctrine that loomed over climate plan (E&E News)
• Whitehouse Reveals Kavanaugh’s Pro-Corporate, Right-Wing Record in SCOTUS Hearing Opener (Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI):
  At today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) pinpointed Kavanaugh’s troubling bias in favor of right-wing and corporate interests throughout his career in Republican politics and on the federal bench, and compared Kavanaugh’s partiality to the same bias that has taken root in Chief Justice John Roberts’s Supreme Court.
• Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearings To Focus On 6 Hot-Button Issues (NPR):
  Kavanaugh’s views on the so-called “administrative state” harken back to pre-New Deal times. He does not, for instance, believe that the Environmental Protection Agency should be able to deal with climate change, because when Congress enacted the Clean Air Act, it didn’t know about greenhouse gases and climate change, so it didn’t specifically authorize the agency to regulate in that area.
• The Ambiguity in Judge Kavanaugh’s Chevron Critique (Regulatory Review)
• What Brett Kavanaugh on Supreme Court Could Mean for Climate Regulations (Inside Climate News, 7/11/2018)
• Brett Kavanaugh’s anti-environment record merits attention at Senate confirmation hearing (Climate Progress)
• The Energy 202: How Kavanaugh may get grilled about his environmental record (Washington Post)
• How Supreme Court Pick Brett Kavanaugh Could Return US Policy to the Era of Robber Barons (DeSmog Blog)
• Typhoon Jebi: Strongest typhoon in 25 years slams into Japan’s west coast:
• Typhoon Jebi: Nine dead as strongest storm in 25 years hits Japan (Al Jazeera):
  Japan’s government issues evacuation advisories for more than a million people following the storm’s landfall on Shikoku.
• VIDEO: Japan’s Typhoon Jebi leaves destruction in its wake (BBC)
• Typhoon Jebi batters Japan – in pictures (Guardian UK)
• Wisconsin: State of emergency after torrential rains, record floods:
• Wisconsin’s catastrophic flooding is a glimpse of the Midwest’s drenched future (Grist):
  For Eric Booth, a climate scientist at the university, the whole thing is almost too much to comprehend. His research project on small stream water temperatures was washed away by the flooding. “The scale of what is happening is absolutely unbelievable to witness,” Booth wrote in an email. Booth’s own calculations showed that rainfall over the past 30 days is an approximately 1-in-1,000 year occurrence, assuming a stable climate. (That, obviously, isn’t a good assumption anymore.)
• Walker declares entire state of Wisconsin in state of emergency as storms finally leave (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
• As dry weather finally nears, waterlogged Wisconsin reports staggering 3-week rain totals (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
• ‘There is no falls’: Flooding wipes out most of Como Falls Park in Hokah, threatens nearby homes (LaCrosse Tribune)
• Gays Mills community cleans up after historic flood (KCRG Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
• 2018 hurricane season gets underway in earnest:
• Heavy rain, flood threat to last for days as former Tropical Storm Gordon heads north (Washington Post)
• Gordon’s Remnant Expected to Survive into the Great Lakes, Enhancing Heavy Rain Through the Midwest (Weather Channel)
• VIDEO: Millions prep for flooding as Tropical Storm Gordon eyes Midwest (CBS News):
  Overnight, Tropical Storm Gordon hit the Gulf Coast, dumping rain and powerful winds of 70 mph on three states, spawning tornadoes and kicking up heavy surf in its wake. Parts of the Florida panhandle received more than 10 inches of rain in 24 hours.
• Hurricane Florence’s Path Shifts Westward, Putting Bermuda On Notice (NPR)
• Florence, the first major Atlantic hurricane of the year, could pose a threat to US East Coast (CNN)

‘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

• 8 States Are Fighting Trump’s Attempt To Declaw Migratory Bird Treaty (Washington Post)
• Farm Bill Proposal Could Wipe Out Communities’ Power To Ban Pesticides (Environmental Health News)
• ACLU: Government Plotted To Surveil, Disrupt Keystone XL Protesters (The Hill)
• A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
• Eight Bird Species Are First Confirmed Avian Extinctions This Decade (Guardian)
• Dozens of Elephants Killed Near Botswana Wildlife Sanctuary (BBC)
• Zinke Hires Endangered Species Act Critic For Senior Post (The Hill)
• Coastal Labs Studying Increased Flooding May Move After More Flooding (NPR)
• Pruitt Spending on Security More Than Doubled in 11 Months: IG Report (NY Times)
• Dire Climate Change Warnings Cut From Trump Power-Plant Proposal (Bloomberg)
• Sunoco 12-Inch Pipeline Leaked 33,000 Gallons Of Gasoline Into Creek (NPR)
• Interior Dept Gives Rules Drafted by Oil Industry Force of Law (POGO)
• An Optimist’s Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)
• The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention. (Politico)
• The world’s bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
• The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
  To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate – so every reduction in emissions helps.
• 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).