‘Green News Report’ – January 6, 2022

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Germany shuts down half of its last remaining nuclear power plants; Trump’s EPA chief, a former coal lobbyist, tapped for Virginia’s top environmental post; Toyota, Chevy and Ford make big EV announcements; PLUS: San Francisco gets the world’s first hydrogen powered ferry… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): 6 big environmental stories to watch in 2022; 2021 temperature records now coming in; Manchin [claims he] sees path to climate deal; A month of unprecedented U.S. weather disasters ends with Colorado fire catastrophe; Ford launches effort to make EV charging in the US much easier; Texas gas barons have not learned lessons of blackouts; Judge orders release of disputed DAPL documents; Texas enacts nation’s strongest flood disclosure law; Wildfires are digging carbon-spewing holes in the Arctic… PLUS: This vast wildfire lab is helping foresters prepare for a hotter planet… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Germany shuts down half of its remaining nuclear power plants:
• Germany Shuts Down Half Of Its 6 Remaining Nuclear Plants (AP):
  The decision to phase out nuclear power and shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy was first taken by the center-left government of Gerhard Schroeder in 2002. His successor, Angela Merkel, reversed her decision to extend the lifetime of Germany’s nuclear plants in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan and set 2022 as the final deadline for shutting them down.
• VIDEO: Germany nuclear energy: Three plants to close under controversial phase-out (Al Jazeera)
• VIDEO: Germany to shut nuclear sites despite energy crunch (DW News)
• Germany And France Clash Over EU’s New “Green” Classifications for Nuclear Energy and Natural Gas (Forbes)
• Germany Rejected Nuclear Power—and Deadly Emissions Spiked (Wired, 1/23/2020)
• PG&E equipment caused massive Dixie Fire in California:
• PG&E power line sparked the nearly million-acre Dixie fire, investigation finds (LA Times):
  State investigators have determined that a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. power line was responsible for sparking last year’s massive Dixie fire, which torched more than 960,000 acres in five Northern California counties as it burned clear across the Sierra Nevada.
• California finds PG&E equipment responsible for massive Dixie Fire (CNBC)
• Frustrated With PG&E Denial of Wildfire Charges, Judge Raises Possibility of Extending Probation (KQED):
  “One of the things we hope for when we have criminals like PG&E that are on probation is that over the course of time they come to accept responsibility,” Alsup said, addressing PG&E attorney Reid Schar. “In five years you’ve never done that. You’ve never accepted responsibility for any of these fires until it’s convenient or you’re up against the wall and have to plead guilty.”
• Prosecutor investigating PG&E’s role in Dixie Fire says Cal Fire determination is ‘not the end’ of criminal investigation (ABC10-Sacramento)
• VA’s Republican Gov.-Elect Youngkin taps Trump’s EPA chief:
• VA Governor-Elect Taps Trump EPA Chief For Key Post (E&E News)
• Youngkin nominates Trump EPA chief Andrew Wheeler for secretary of natural resources (Washington Post/MSN):
  Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin (R) on Wednesday nominated Andrew Wheeler — a former coal lobbyist who led a rollback of Obama-era environmental regulations as President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency chief — as his secretary of natural resources.
• Trump EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler Tapped For Virginia’s Top Environmental Post (Huffington Post/Yahoo News)
• New solar plants planned for Virginia’s former coal fields:
• Solar Power Projects See The Light on Former Appalachian Coal Land (Reuters):
  While using former mining land to generate solar energy has long been discussed, this and five related sites are among the first projects to move forward in the coalfields of the central Appalachian Mountains, as well as nationally.
• The Switch to Solar at Coal Power Plants and Mines is On (Solar Magazine)
• Here’s how we turn former coal mine lands in West Virginia into solar fields (Inverse, 2/27/2020)
• San Francisco to get world’s first hydrogen-powered ferry:
• Hydrogen-powered ferry to debut in San Francisco (CBS News/Yahoo:
  A much larger hydrogen-powered ferry is now being built in Europe, and the technology could eventually be applied to container ships. But there is a downside: if hydrogen leaks during production or from its tanks, it contributes to global warming.
• First US Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Passenger Ferry Launched (Maritime Executive)
• Big automakers accelerate shift to electric vehicles:
• Toyota to Spend $35 Billion on Electric Push in an Effort to Take on Tesla (Inside Climate News):
  The auto giant’s investment target trails VW’s $58.5 billion pledge. But one analyst said Toyota seems now to have a “high level of commitment” to EVs.
• The Chevy Silverado finally goes electric (TechCrunch)
• Chevy Silverado EV Will Be First Production Car WIth 24-Inch Wheels (The Drive/MSN)
• VIDEO: Watch GM reveal the 2024 Chevy Silverado EV (CNET highlights)
• Ford plans to double production of its electric F-150 Lightning to keep up with surging demand (Business Insider/MSN)
• Ford, GM shares jump as electric truck battle heats up (Reuters/Yahoo News)

‘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

• 6 Big Environmental Stories to Watch in 2022 (The Revelator)
• 2021 Temperature Records Now Coming In (Climate Crocks)
• Manchin [claims he] sees path to climate deal (E&E News)
• A month of unprecedented U.S. weather disasters ends with Colorado fire catastrophe (Yale Climate Connections)
• Yes, Curbing U.S. Fossil Fuel Extraction Does Reduce Climate Pollution (The Regulatory Review)
• EV charging stations are annoying. Ford wants to fix them (E&E News)
• Gas Barons Have not Learned Lessons of Blackouts (Climate Crocks)
• EPA’s Failure To Disclose Chemical Health Risk Draws Ire (E&E News)
• Biden Administration Eyes Wind Leases Off California’s Coast (Inside Climate News)
• This Vast Wildfire Lab Is Helping Foresters Prepare for a Hotter Planet (NY Times)
• N Dakota Judge Rules 1000s Of Disputed DAPL Documents Are Public Records (Bismarck Tribune)
• Texas Enacts Nation’s Strongest Flood Disclosure Law (E&E News)
• Regulatory Fight Looms Over First-Ever Air Toxics Addition (E&E News)
• US Judge Blocks Work At Nevada Geothermal Plant For 90 Days (AP)
• Federal Report IDs New Carcinogens (E&E News)
• Wildfires Are Digging Carbon-Spewing Holes in the Arctic (Wired)
• As its topsoil washes away, the Corn Belt is losing yields — and carbon (Mongabay)
• Solar power has changed Syrian refugees’ lives in Jordan – and they want more (Climate Change News)
• Green Upheaval: The New Geopolitics of Energy (Foreign Affairs)
• VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
• Guilt, grief and anxiety as young people fear for climate’s future (Reuters)
• 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
• An Empire of Dying Wells: Old oil and gas sites are a climate menace. Meet the company that owns more of America’s decaying wells than any other. (Bloomberg)
• 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.