‘Green News Report’ – October 5, 2021

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Massive oil spill off Southern California coast despoils fish and fowl; SoCal beaches closed, with calls renewed for total offshore drilling ban; PLUS: Big Oil spending big bucks to block climate provisions in Biden’s Build Back Better agenda… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): An “attack on American cities” by the natural gas industry is freezing climate action in its tracks; National Audubon Society calls for ‘Lights Out’ after ‘mass mortality’ event of migratory birds; Babies are full of microplastics, new research shows; What climate change requires of economics; 14 percent of world’s coral lost in a decade; Oil spills plague Venazuelan coast; Urban heat is getting more dangerous… PLUS: The Dimming of Planet Earth… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Massive oil spill fouls Southern California coast:
• California oil spill: Gov. Gavin Newsom declares state of emergency; criminal, civil investigations underway (USA Today):
  Officials investigating the oil spill are looking into whether a ship’s anchor may have struck a pipeline on the ocean floor, causing the major leak of crude, authorities said Monday.
• Another massive California oil spill: What you need to know (Cal Matters)
• Beaches are closed and cleanup is underway after oil spill off Southern California destroys wildlife habitats (CNN):
  “The oil has infiltrated the entirety of the (Talbert) wetlands. There’s significant impacts to wildlife there,” she said Sunday. “These are wetlands that we’ve been working with the Army Corps of Engineers, with (a local) land trust, with all the community wildlife partners to make sure to create this beautiful, natural habitat for decades. And now in just a day, it’s completely destroyed.”
• Massive California oil spill was reported Friday. But nobody told the millions who went to the beaches. (USA Today/MSN)
• Records show slow response to report of California oil spill (Houston Chronicle)
• Before O.C. oil spill, platform owner faced bankruptcy, history of regulatory problems (LA Times)
• Oil spill seeps into O.C.’s coastal wetlands, a critical link along migratory bird route (LA Times)
• VIDEO: Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr provides update on massive oil spill (Fox11 Los Angeles)
• Frantic fight to protect coast as worsening Orange County oil spill stalks beaches (LA Times):
  A map projecting the movements of the oil spill indicates the greatest threat to the shore remains in the area between Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach.
• Orange County Oil Spill renews calls for total ban on CA offshore drilling:
• California Oil Spill Closes Beaches and Renews Call for Drilling Ban (NY Times):
  More than 40 years old, the pipeline connects to a pumping station in Long Beach. Such pipelines are usually designed for a 25-year life…Congress enacted a moratorium on oil and natural gas leasing in California’s federal waters in 1982. That moratorium expired in 2008, but no offshore federal lease sales have occurred since. There have been calls to make the moratorium permanent.
AUDIO: Laura Deehan, ‘Enough is Enough’: Yet Another Major Oil Disaster Fouls California Coastline: ‘BradCast’ 10/4/2021 (The BRAD BLOG)
• Column: Nobody could have been surprised by this spill. Now here’s what has to happen (Steve Lopez, LA Times):
  Aging oil drilling infrastructure and lax regulation made the Orange County spill inevitable.
• Big Oil spending big bucks to kill climate provisions in Biden’s Build Back Better bill:
• Big Oil is going all-out to fight climate rules in Build Back Better (CNN):
  ExxonMobil (XOM), the nation’s largest oil-and-gas company, has spent at least $1.6 million since August 11 on political and issue ads on Facebook that have been viewed 31 million times, InfluenceMap said.
• VIDEO: Sanders: Sinema Is ‘Wrong’ To Call Delayed BIF Vote An ‘Ineffective Stunt’ (Talking Points Memo ):
  After touting provisions of both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package, Sanders argued that lawmakers are not just simply dealing with centrist Sens. Sinema or Joe Manchin (D-WV), they are taking on “the entire ruling class of this country” such as drug and health insurance companies as well as the fossil fuel industry.
• In Your Facebook Feed: Oil Industry Pushback Against Biden Climate Plans (NY times):
  The messages take aim at Democrats by name as part of a broad effort to undermine landmark climate legislation that now hangs in the balance in Congress.

‘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

• An “attack on American cities” is freezing climate action in its tracks (Vox)
• National Audubon Society calls for ‘Lights Out’ after ‘mass mortality’ event of migratory birds (Houston Chronicle)
• Babies are full of microplastics, new research shows (Euronews)
• The Dimming of Planet Earth (Climate Crocks)
• What Climate Change Requires of Economics (Project-Syndicate)
• Three Scientists Win Nobel for Work on Climate Breakthroughs (BNA News)
• 14% Of World’s Coral Lost In Less Than A Decade, Study Shows (Guardian UK)
• Urban Heat Is Getting More Dangerous (Earther)
• Oil Spills Plague Venezuelan Coast, But Cleanup Efforts Are Lacking (Mongabay)
• Rare Flower Found At Site Of Planned Lithium Mine May Be Endangered (AP)
• Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Plans To Raze Old-Growth Forest (Tennessee Lookout)
• 5 Midwest Governors Agree To Create Network To Charge Electric Vehicles (NPR)
• Energy Firms See ‘Lithium Valley’ Riches in S. California’s Salton Sea (Guardian UK)
• Tracking the Big Climate Bills – An Infrastructure/Reconciliation Breakdown (Society of Environmental Journalists)
• Will this metal recycling startup revolutionize the battery and clean energy sectors? (Electrek)
• Climate Fund Choices for Investors Are Multiplying (Bloomberg/Yahoo)
• How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
• 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 9 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• 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.