‘Green News Report’ – February 15, 2022

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Western U.S. mega-drought is the worst in 1200 years, new study finds; Biden Administration rolls out funding for national EV charging network; Oil prices spike amid escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions; PLUS: Carmakers spend big touting new electric vehicles during the Super Bowl… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Scientists raise alarm over ‘dangerously fast’ growth in atmospheric methane; Is fascism the wave of the future? How climate change benefits the extreme right; Analysis shows how rooftop solar could have saved lives during Texas deep freeze; Engineers are building bridges with recycled wind turbine blades; The end of natural gas has to start with its name; Judge blocks key Biden climate metric… PLUS: EPA responds after HuffPost investigates Gulf chemical dump: Nothing to see here… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Oil/gas prices spike on Russia-Ukraine tensions:
• Energy Markets Are Jittery as Russia-Ukraine Tensions Drag On (NY Times):
  Oil prices are well over $90 a barrel, and an invasion would most likely push them above $100. Reflecting the uncertainty, stock markets were sliding lower..
• Oil drops more than 4% from a 7-year high as Russia says some troops returning to base (MarketWatch)
• ‘A very scary concept’: Energy ministers fearful of oil prices surpassing $100 a barrel (CNBC)
• Banks still investing in fossil fuel projects despite net zero pledges:
• Never Believe a Bank’s Net-Zero Pledge (The New Republic):
  A new report finds that climate-friendly financial institutions have been funding fossil fuel projects to the tune of $38 billion.
• Big banks fund new oil and gas despite net zero pledges (BBC):
  Banks including HSBC, Barclays and Deutsche Bank are still backing new oil and gas despite being part of a green banking group, ShareAction said.
• Grim study warns US West mega-drought worst in at least 1200 years:
• West mega-drought worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years (Washington Post):
  “Climate change is changing the baseline conditions toward a drier, gradually drier state in the West and that means the worst-case scenario keeps getting worse,” said study lead author Park Williams, a climate hydrologist at UCLA. “This is right in line with what people were thinking of in the 1900s as a worst-case scenario. But today I think we need to be even preparing for conditions in the future that are far worse than this.”

• US west ‘megadrought’ is worst in at least 1,200 years, new study says (Guardian UK):
  Human-caused climate change significant driver of destructive conditions as even drier decades lie ahead, researchers say.
• West megadrought worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years (AP)
• Western megadrought is worst in 1,200 years, intensified by climate change, study finds (LA Times)
• Super Bowl was 2nd hottest as car companies spend big on EV ads:
• EV ads dominated the Super Bowl, but don’t expect to buy one anytime soon (The Verge)
• Electric vehicles dominated Super Bowl ads, but are still only 9% of passenger car sales (CNBC)
• Super Bowl will be hot, but not the hottest ever (WTOP)
• Biden Administration rolls out national EV charging network plan, funding:
• Who wants Biden’s EV-charging money? Everybody (E&E News)
• White House details plan to make a ‘truly national system’ of EV charging stations (Yahoo Finance):
  Administration officials offered new program guidance for the states and some new tidbits of what you might see on a roadway in the future. States will be required to have chargers less than 50 miles apart in most instances with a focus on the direct current stations that would be able charge at least four cars simultaneously.
• Biden administration plan calls for $5 billion network of electric-vehicle chargers along interstates (Washington Post)
• Biden launches $5 billion plan to shore up national EV charging network (The Verge)
• VIDEO: Sec. Granholm, Sec. Buttigieg press conference (Dept. of Energy)
• President Biden, USDOT and USDOE Announce $5 Billion over Five Years for National EV Charging Network, Made Possible by Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Dept. of Transportation)

‘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

• Scientists raise alarm over ‘dangerously fast’ growth in atmospheric methane (Nature)
• Is fascism the wave of the future? How climate change benefits the extreme right. (The New Statesman)
• Analysis Shows How Rooftop Solar Could Have Saved Lives During Texas Deep Freeze (Common Dreams)
• Judge restores gray wolf protections (E&E News)
• Engineers are building bridges with recycled wind turbine blades (The Verge)
• The end of natural gas has to start with its name (Vox)
• Are Solar Farms Toxic? That’s a Big NO (Climate Crocks)
• Judge blocks key Biden climate metric (E&E News)
• EPA Responds After HuffPost Investigates Gulf Chemical Dump: Nothing To See Here (Huffington Post)
• White House Takes Aim at Environmental Racism, but Won’t Mention Race (NY Times)
• How Manchin used politics to protect his coal company (E&E News)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• 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.