‘Green News Report’ – November 13, 2018

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Northern California’s record-breaking Camp Fire now the most destructive, and the most deadly, in state history; State investigating utilities’ role in sparking latest round of deadly wildfires; Kids’ landmark climate lawsuit against the federal government placed on hold, again; PLUS: Judge halts all work on controversial Keystone XL pipeline… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Climate research scrapped from goals in EPA draft plan; A Democrat ran on climate change in a Republican stronghold—and won; US climate politics just got even more polarized. Here’s how Democrats can move forward; Amid global outcry, China decides not to legalize rhino horn; Zinke is the cabinet official most vulnerable to Democratic probe, White House fears; Americans voted overwhelmingly to protect wild places; New Mexico weighs options for reusing oil and gas wastewater; Canada eyes new ways to move stranded crude… PLUS: Why is the Gulf of Maine warming faster than 99% of the ocean?… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• California again confronts catastrophic, deadly wildfires:
• California wildfires: How to help victims of Camp, Woolsey, Hill fires (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• California fires live updates: Camp fire becomes state’s deadliest; number of homes lost in Woolsey fire rises sharply (LA Times)
• Hurricane-force gusts will fuel one California fire while another blaze leaves 42 people dead (CNN):
  As one wildfire keeps inflicting more tragedy in Northern California, millions of people in Southern California will face treacherous fire conditions Tuesday. About 21 million people are under red flag warnings in Southern California, including in Los Angeles and San Diego, CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said.
• ‘Unprecedented’ Camp Fire’s death toll hits record 42 and likely to rise (USA Today)
• As toll mounts from Malibu to Thousand Oaks, how did the Woolsey fire become a monster? (LA Times)
• Despite fire after fire, Paradise continued to boom – until California’s worst wildfire hit (LA Times):
  The solution created by Paradise city leaders was a plan that evacuated sections of the city at a time…”I think their plan would have worked for the 97th percentile fire,” said Bill Stewart, co-director of the Berkeley Forests program at UC Berkeley. “It would have worked if they had six hours to move, instead of two.”
• Caught in the inferno: How the Camp Fire overwhelmed paradise (Washington Post)
• CA Fires: Gov Brown blames climate change, Trump blames California:
  • Scientists: Wind, drought worsen fires, not bad management (AP)
  • Trump’s Misleading Claims About California’s Fire ‘Mismanagement’ (NY Times):
    On Twitter, the president claimed that the state’s wildfire woes are a result of poor forest management. The truth is more complicated.
  • VIDEO: Jerry Brown on CA Fires (Gov. Jerry Brown Press Office Twitter)
  • VIDEO Full press conference: Emergency Officials Provide Wildfire Update at State Operations Center (CA Office of Emergency Services)
  • Gov. Brown asks for aid from Trump admin, also says denying climate change contributes to state’s ‘tragedies’ (AP)
  • President Donald Trump approves expedited request for major disaster declaration for California (KABC-Los Angeles)
  • Gov. Brown, fire-besieged California hit back at Trump over blame tweet (Politico):
    ‘Managing all the forests everywhere we can does not stop climate change – and those that deny that are definitely contributing to the tragedy,’ the governor said.
  • Megafires More Frequent Because Of Climate Change And Forest Management (NY Times):
    Mr. Trump is suggesting that forest management played a role, but California’s current wildfires aren’t forest fires.

• State regulators investigating utilities’ role in sparking latest wildfires:
• Report: CPUC launches PG&E, SCE probes after 3 deadly fires (Utility Dive)
• Fires put pressure on California utilities despite new law (AP):
  California utilities again are facing severe financial pressures from the possibility that their equipment sparked catastrophic wildfires, including two that are now burning at either end of the state. The pressure comes even though Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation in September giving utilities some relief beginning next year.
• Camp Fire victim: PG&E told her it needed to fix sparking transmission line day before deadly blaze (San Jose Mercury News):
  The California Public Utilities Commission launched investigations Monday into California’s two largest utility companies after both PG&E and Southern California Edison Company reported that their electrical infrastructure suffered malfunctions near ground zero of two deadly blazes raging across the north and south of the state.
• Southern California Edison Reports Outage on Electrical Circuits Before the Wildfire (Time)
• Shares of California utilities plunge as wildfires rage (CNBC)
• PG&E shares sink 4 percent after Cal Fire faults utility for a dozen wildfires (CNBC, 6/11/2018):
  PG&E also has been pushing the state to reform the current inverse condemnation rules that allow utilities to be held liable for significant damages in disasters such as wildfires.
• Kids’ landmark climate lawsuit against federal government on hold – again:
• Landmark Children’s Climate Lawsuit Hits New Roadblock (Mother Jones):
  “This is not an environmental case, it’s a civil rights case.”…”The Brown v. Board of Education case was all about school districts inflicting harm on children because of the ‘separate but equal’ policies. Our case is about the federal government knowingly inflicting harm on children through fossil fuel emissions,” plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel Phil Gregory told Mother Jones last month. “If you substitute a word like ‘segregation’ for ‘climate change,’ there’s no way the Supreme Court would stop this case.”…[T]he Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delayed the case again [PDF] on Thursday.
• 9th Circuit puts the brakes on kids’ climate change trial (Reuters)
• A major climate change lawsuit is on hold. Again. (Vox):
  The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted part of the Trump administration’s motion for a temporary stay of the Juliana v. US lawsuit. Trial preparations are still going ahead, but the plaintiffs have 15 days to file a response.
• Judge halts work in controversial Keystone XL pipeline:
• Federal judge blocks Keystone XL pipeline, saying Trump administration review ignored ‘inconvenient’ climate change facts (Washington Post):
  The judge, Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court in Montana, said the State Department ignored crucial issues of climate change to further the president’s goal of letting the pipeline be built. In doing so, the administration ran afoul of the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires “reasoned” explanations for government decisions, particularly when they represent reversals of well-studied actions.
• Native, environmental groups to step up efforts after Keystone XL ruling (KELO-FM, Sioux Falls SD)
• TransCanada says it is committed to Keystone XL pipeline after judge orders halt (Bismarck Tribune):
  The Canadian proponent of the $10 billion Keystone XL crude pipeline says it remains committed to the oft-delayed project despite a Montana judge’s ruling that it must pass a further environmental review.
• US judge halts construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline (CNBC)

‘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

• Climate research scrapped from goals in draft plan (E&E News)
• A Democrat Ran on Climate Change in a Republican Stronghold—and Won (The New Republic)
• US climate politics just got even more polarized. Here’s how Democrats can move forward. (Vox)
• Amid Global Outcry, China Decides Not To Legalize Rhino Horn, Tiger Bone (Huffignton Post)
• EPA Plans Soil Removal At Lead-Tainted Indiana Complex (AP)
• Why Is the Gulf of Maine Warming Faster Than 99% of the Ocean? (EOS)
• U.S. Plans New Limits On Heavy-Duty Truck Emissions (Reuters)
• Zinke is the Cabinet official most vulnerable to Democratic probe, White House fears (Washington Post)
• Americans Voted Overwhelmingly to Protect Wild Places (Outside)
• Clean energy platforms win at the state level as 7 governor seats shift blue (Utility Dive)
• The Zinke effect: how the US interior department became a tool of big business (Guardian)
• New Mexico weighs options for reusing oil and gas wastewater (AP)
• Oil pucks and pellets; Canada eyes new ways to move stranded crude (Reuters)
• As Brazil’s Far Right Leader Threatens the Amazon, One Tribe Pushes Back (NY Times)
• Saudi energy minister says oil producers need to cooperate, even without OPEC (S&P Global/Platts)
• Utility group CEO sees Democratic majority as an opportunity for infrastructure legislation (Washington Examiner)
• As dust settles for RecycLA, council and property owners still unhappy (Waste Dive)
• What genuine, no-bullshit ambition on climate change would look like: How to hit the most stringent targets, with no loopholes. (David Roberts, Vox)
• A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
• 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).