‘Green News Report’ – August 13, 2020

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Joe Biden selects environmental justice champ Kamala Harris as his Vice Presidential running mate; Trump EPA rolls back methane pollution rules to profit the oil and gas industry; Good news for the nation’s birds; PLUS: Another new fossil fuel spill, this time in Pennsylvania… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): 5 Lessons from the Pandemic to Tackle Climate Change; Trump administration eases showerhead rules; Colorado Is Still Really, Really Dry; Trump’s Border Wall Is the ‘Biggest Threat’ to Southwest Wildlife, Government Emails Reveal; Air pollution is much worse than we thought; Midwest Derecho Devastates Iowa Corn Crop. Satellites Show Damage; Antarctica’s Ice Shelves Have Lost Millions of Metric Tons of Ice… PLUS: Greenland ice sheet claims life of renowned climate scientist… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Former VP Joe Biden selects CA Sen. Kamala Harris as his VP running mate:
• What choosing Harris says about Biden and climate (E&E News):
  In picking Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, Joe Biden elevated the California Democrat as a potential leader on climate policy for the next decade – a period that scientists say will seal the trajectory of global temperatures for the rest of the century.
• What Kamala Harris means for Biden’s climate change plans (Axios)
• Biden locks down mainstream green groups with Sierra Club endorsement (Washington Post)
• Kamala Harris brings record on climate change and environmental justice to Biden ticket (Washington Post)
• National Environmental Scorecard: Senator Kamala Harris (D) (League of Conservation Voters)
• Kamala Harris is Biden’s VP pick. What does that mean for the climate? (Grist)
• The Energy 202: Kamala Harris goes big on environmental justice as Biden considers her as running mate (Washington Post)
• Harris and Ocasio-Cortez Team up on a Climate ‘Equity’ Bill, Leaving Activists Hoping for Unity (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: Biden and Harris make 1st appearance as running mates in Delaware (PBS NewsHour)
• VIDEO: CNN’s Climate Crisis Town Hall ft. Kamala Harris (CNN)
• Biden vows to block controversial mining projects in AZ, AK, but shifts on fracking ban:
• Biden vows to block Pebble mine project if elected (AP)
• Biden says he opposes uranium mining around Grand Canyon, citing importance to tribes (Arizona Republic)
• How will Biden’s shifting views on fracking play in PA? (E&E News)
• Fact check: Trump distorts Biden’s position on fracking (AP)
• Trump EPA to formally roll back Obama-era methane rules
• Trump’s Methane Rollback That Big Oil Doesn’t Want (NPR):
  Despite opposition from the oil and gas industry it aims to help, the Trump administration later Thursday is expected to roll back an Obama-era rule designed to reduce climate-warming methane emissions…Shell, BP and the Exxon Mobil Corp. have big natural gas portfolios. They worry that if methane emissions aren’t controlled that could undermine arguments that natural gas is a cleaner-burning fossil fuel than coal.
• Trump E.P.A. to Lift Obama-Era Controls on Methane, a Potent Greenhouse Gas (NY Times):
  However, this and any other regulatory changes put forth by the Trump administration in the latter half of 2020 could be quickly undone in the first half of 2021, if, as polls now suggest, Joseph R. Biden Jr. wins the White House and Democrats take control of the Senate.
• EPA expected to undo methane leak rule for oil, gas industry (AP)
• Another fossil fuel industry spill, this time in PA:
• Mariner East construction spills 10,000 gallons of drilling mud into Chester County lake (NPR)
• Drilling is stopped after leaks develop along Mariner East pipeline. One is affecting Chester’s Marsh Creek Lake. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Mariner East spill reaches drinking water in Pa. (E&E News)
• Global coal fleet shrank in 2020, for the first time ever:
• Analysis: The global coal fleet shrank for first time on record in 2020 (Carbon Brief):
  The world’s fleet of coal-fired power stations has got smaller for the first time on record, with more capacity retired in the first half of 2020 than the amount opened.
• Global coal capacity shrinks in first half of 2020 for the first time on record (The Hill)
• Good news for U.S. birds: Court strikes down Trump’s Migratory Bird Act rule changes:
• Judge cites ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ in striking down migratory bird protection changes (CNN)
• Quoting ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ judge strikes down Trump administration rollback of historic law protecting birds (Washington Post):
  ‘It is not only a sin to kill a mockingbird, it is also a crime,’ Judge Valerie Caproni wrote in a forceful decision.
• Eagles And Mockingbirds Catch A Break As Judge Strikes Down Trump Bird Opinion (NPR)
• Alarm As Pesticides Spur Rapid Decline Of US Bird Species (Guardian UK)

‘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

• 5 Lessons from the Pandemic to Tackle Climate Change: COVID is the quiz. Climate is the final exam. (Climate Crocks)
• Let it flow: Trump administration eases showerhead rules (AP)
• Colorado Is Still Really, Really Dry (Colorado Public Radio)
• Trump’s Border Wall Is the ‘Biggest Threat’ to Southwest Wildlife, Government Emails Reveal (Earther)
• Air pollution is much worse than we thought. Ditching fossil fuels would pay for itself through clean air alone. (Vox)
• Antarctica’s Ice Shelves Have Lost Millions of Metric Tons of Ice (Scientific American)
• Pools of Water Atop Sea Ice in the Arctic May Lead it to Melt Away Sooner Than Expected (Inside Climate News)
• Greenland ice sheet claims life of renowned climate scientist (CBS)
• Midwest Derecho Devastates Iowa Corn Crop. Satellites Show Damage (Washington Post)
• 6 Former EPA Bosses Call For Agency Reset After Election (AP)
• Mauritius Says Almost All Oil Removed From Damaged Japanese Ship (Reuters)
• Mexico To Phase Out Use Of Herbicide Glyphosate (Reuters)
• Global Warming Could Unlock Carbon From Tropical Soil (NY Times)
• Tribes On Edge Over Giant Dam Proposal Near Grand Canyon (Guardian UK)
• After Decades, Landmark NYC Watershed Protection Plan Is Working (Circle Of Blue)
• All 47 Senate Democrats Ask Trump To Withdraw Controversial BLM Nominee (The Hill)
• Exxon’s Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• What Does ’12 Years to Act on Climate Change’ (Now 11 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• SEJ Backgrounder: Green New Deal Proposes Sweeping Economic Transformation (Society of Environmental Journalists)
• Explainer: The ‘Green New Deal’: Mobilizing for a just, prosperous, and sustainable economy (New Consensus)
• 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.

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).