‘Green News Report’ – April 13, 2021

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: U.S. West sinks deeper into drought, setting up dangerous fire season and water cutbacks on the Colorado River; California unveils sweeping wildfire prevention plan; Major battery company settlement allows Georgia EV factory to move ahead; PLUS: NOAA predicts above-average 2021 hurricane season, and redefines the new ‘normal’… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Texas Wind Energy Set a Record—But Republicans Are Still Trying to Squash It; US to enter mega drought which will be the worst for 1200 years – here’s what to expect; Nervous North American farmers set to ‘seed in faith’ into parched soils; U.S. Won’t Shut Dakota Access Pipe Amid New Environmental Review; Japan Says It Plans To Release Contaminated Fukushima Water Into Sea; Leaked calls show ALEC’s secret plan to fight Biden on climate … PLUS: Are Huge Tree Planting Projects More Hype than Solution?… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• NOAA predicts ‘above-average’ 2021 Atlantic hurricane season:
• Forecasters predict an above-average Atlantic hurricane season in 2021 (Yale Climate Connections):
  2) Anomalously warm SSTs are expected in the tropical Atlantic for the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season…As is its practice, the CSU team included this standard disclaimer: “Coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season for them, and they need to prepare the same for every season, regardless of how much activity is predicted.”
• Expect More Tropical Storms, NOAA Warns (NPR):
  NOAA defines the average number of storms based on activity over a 30-year period…The updated data show that the average number of named tropical storms in a given year is now 14, up from an average of 12 between 1981-2010.
• ‘Average’ Atlantic hurricane season to reflect more storms (NOAA):
  Higher averages based on most recent 30-year climate record/
• El Nino isn’t coming to the rescue: What that means for 2021’s hurricane season (Palm Beach Post)
• Weather panel ends use of Greek names for Atlantic hurricanes, retires deadly 2020 storms (Washington Post):
  Instead of using the Greek alphabet when the A to Z list of storm names is exhausted, a new supplemental list of names will be used for future hurricane seasons…Several of the Greek letters that occur one after the other – namely Zeta, Eta and Theta – sound similar and occur in secession…leading to messaging difficulties.
• The impact of Hurricane Season on the global supply chain (Yahoo Finance)
• U.S. West sinks deeper into drought:
• In the West, Signs in the Snow Warn That a 20-Year Drought Will Persist and Intensify (Inside Climate News):
  Critical April 1 snowpack readings once again spell trouble, and new studies show the warming climate is lengthening dry spells and shrinking the snowpack, even in winter.
• In The West, Signs In The Snow Warn That A 20-Year Drought Will Persist And Intensify (KUNC)
• ‘This has never happened’: California’s only wildfire research center makes scary discovery (SF Gate)
The 2020-2021 winter was the third driest on record, according to the California Department of Water Resources. The region’s reservoirs are beginning to see the impact and are at half their total capacity.
• US Drought Monitor summary for April 8, 2021 (US Drought Monitor)
• New Mexico sees driest March on record (KRQE-Alberquerque)
• Southwest Braces For Water Cutbacks As Drought Deepens Along The Colorado (Arizona Republic)
• Drought sets up risk of severe 2021 wildfire season:
• West anticipating dangerous fire season due to severe drought (ABC News)
• Drought-plagued California and western U.S. may see another devastating fire season (Washington Post):
  The drought, which led to the most extreme wildfire season on record in California and Colorado last year, is now worse.
• Snowpack in Colorado, across the West is melting earlier than it did in the 20th century (Colorado Sun)
• VIDEO: Western U.S. may be entering its most severe drought in modern history (Jeff Berardelli, CBS News)
• PG&E faces new criminal charges in 2019 Kincade Fire
• California utility PG&E facing criminal charges over the state’s largest 2019 wildfire (CNN)
• Criminal Charges Filed Against PG&E Related to the Kincade Fire (Sonoma County District Attorney)
• CA Gov. Newsom, lawmakers agree to comprehensive fire prevention plan:
• California plans $536M for forests before wildfire season (AP)
• California unveils sweeping wildfire prevention plan amid record fire losses and drought (LA Times):
  The gravity of the issue became clear last week after state officials reported the water content in the Sierra Nevada snowpack stood at 59% of the average for early spring. “The science is clear: Warming winter temperatures and warming summer temperatures across the American West are creating more challenging and dangerous wildfire conditions,” said Wade Crowfoot, the governor’s secretary of natural resources.
• Governor Newsom Tours Sierra Fuel Break, Highlights Agreement with Legislative Leaders on $536 Million Wildfire Package (Gov. Gavin Newsom)
• Settlement between EV battery rivals allows GA battery factory to move forward:
• South Korean Battery Makers Reach $1.8 Billion Settlement, Saving Georgia Plant (Yahoo News)
• SKorea’s Moon says EV battery settlement ‘very meaningful’ (AP)
• South Korea EV battery makers reach settlement in US trade dispute (The Verge)
• Biden welcomes settlement between South Korean firms on electric battery dispute (Reuters)

‘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

• Texas Wind Energy Set a Record—But Republicans Are Still Trying to Squash It (Earther)
• Nervous North American farmers set to ‘seed in faith’ into parched soils (Reuters)
• Study: Drought-breaking rains more rare, erratic in US West (AP)
• US to enter mega drought which will be the worst for 1200 years – here’s what to expect (Independent UK)
• EPA Watchdog to Probe Alleged Retaliation Against Scientists (Bloomberg)
• Leaked calls show ALEC’s secret plan to fight Biden on climate (Grist)
• Tourists and looters descend on Bears Ears as Biden mulls protections (Washington Post)
• California Dairy Farmers are Saving Money—and Cutting Methane Emissions—By Feeding Cows Leftovers (Inside Climate News)
• Big Oil Fed State Educators Stats Used to Push Back on Biden Climate Goals (Earther)
• Japan Says It Plans To Release Contaminated Fukushima Water Into Sea (Reuters)
• 2.3 Million Americans Exposed To High Levels Of Strontium In Drinking Water (Environmental Health News)
• Neighborhoods United: Highway Removal Gains Steam In U.S. Cities (Thompson Reuters Foundation)
• U.S. Won’t Shut Dakota Access Pipe Amid New Environmental Review (Bloomberg)
• Salton Sea Dust, Air Quality to Get Closer Look in California (Bloomberg)
• Are Huge Tree Planting Projects More Hype than Solution? (Yale e360)
• Intel Report Warns Of Fragile Future Shaped By Pandemics, Climate Change (The Hill)
• China’s Plans For Himalayan Super Dam Stoke Fears In India (Phys.org)
• How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
• Feeding Cattle Seaweed Reduces Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions 82 Percent (Phys.Org)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• 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).