‘Green News Report’ – March 3, 2022

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Biden touts infrastructure and clean energy in State of the Union address; Majority of Americans willing to shoulder higher gas prices to help Ukraine; PLUS: Russian oil and gas industry getting pummeled as another oil giant pulls out… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Australia’s record-breaking floods can be traced back to one thing; Climate responses that backfire are a growing problem; For the first time, nations band together in a move toward ending plastics pollution; Wildfires may slow recovery of the ozone layer; Congress has historic chance to protect America’s free-flowing rivers; GAO concerned by flood risk management at nation’s hazardous chemical facilities; Oil industry stirs blowback after weaving war into US lobbying; Why Ford didn’t spin off its EV business; Florida’s beloved Key Deer close to climate extinction… PLUS: World’s insect population is in decline, and that’s bad news for humans… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Russia’s oil and gas sector hit hard by new divestments:
• Exxon is quitting its last Russian project (CNN)
• Russian oil isn’t sanctioned, but nobody wants to touch it anyway (CNN)
• Norway wealth fund’s Russian investments are worthless, says CEO (Reuters):
  The fund said divesting would take time as it was unclear when the Moscow bourse would reopen and how trading would work. The fund also needs to ensure it does not sell to individuals under international sanctions.
• Nord Stream 2 Lays Off Employees Amid Reports of Bankruptcy (US News and World Report)
• US, World Powers To Tap Oil Reserves In Bid To Ease Gasoline Prices (Washington Post)
• Why Western Sanctions Aren’t Hitting Russia Where It Would Hurt Most (LA Times)
• Poll: Majority of Americans willing to shoulder higher gas prices for Ukraine:
• Americans’ approval of Biden’s handling of Ukraine crisis rises -Reuters/Ipsos (Reuters/Yahoo News):
  A majority of respondents, 58%, said paying more for fuel and gas because of the crisis was worthwhile to defend another democratic country.
• Poll: Even before Ukraine, Americans wanted country to prioritize renewable energy (CNN):
  The results show 69% of American adults favor developing alternative energy, including wind and solar, over increasing production of fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas. It also found 69% of Americans want the US to take steps to become carbon neutral by 2050 — as President Joe Biden is seeking to do.
• Russia oil disruption would lead to ‘significantly higher prices,’ says Exxon CEO (CNBC)
• Biden’s State of the Union address – light on climate, heavy on jobs:
• Biden’s State of the Union climate pitch was short but revealing (Axios/Yahoo News):
  President Biden’s State of the Union speech highlighted the White House political strategy on climate and energy markets as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sends oil prices skyward.
• Biden Says Energy Plan Will Fight Climate Change, Inflation In State Of The Union Speech (Huffington Post):
  The president said tackling planetary warming would save American families $500 per year in energy costs.
• 7 key takeaways from Biden’s 2022 State of the Union speech (PBS NewsHour)
• Biden barely mentioned climate change in his State of the Union speech (Boston Globe/MSN)
• ‘Building A Better America’ Faces Familiar Gridlock: Joe Manchin And Kyrsten Sinema (Huffington Post/Yahoo News)<
• Global Warming Is Outrunning Efforts to Protect Human Life, Scientists Warn (Bloomberg):
  The breakneck speed of global warming exceeds the pace of efforts to protect billions of vulnerable people, according to a new report released Monday by the world’s top climate scientists. The report warns of a growing mismatch between rising temperatures and slow, fragmented efforts to adapt, leaving little time for catching up before “a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity” is sealed shut.
• Urgent action needed to address climate change’s catastrophic threats, U.N. report warns (LA Times)
• ‘Delay means death’: We’re running out of ways to adapt to the climate crisis, new report shows. Here are the key takeaways (CNN)
• READ: President Biden’s State of the Union address (CNN)
• Interior Dept. offshore wind lease sale shatters records:
• Inside Clean Energy: Explaining the Record-Breaking Offshore Wind Sale (Inside Climate News):
  Bidding for U.S. offshore wind leases was fierce and the winners include oil giants…Of the winning companies, all but one, Invenergy Offshore Wind, are based in Europe or include European partners. Two European oil companies, Shell and TotalEnergies, were among the winners.
• Sale of Leases for Wind Farms Off New York Raises More Than $4 Billion (NY Times)
• Biden’s Offshore Wind Sale Brings In Record $4.3 Billion (Huffington Post):
  This week’s auction grossed more than any federal offshore oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history, according to the Interior Department.

‘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

• Ukraine War Upends Biden’s Agenda On Energy, Climate Change (AP)
• Oil Jumps To $110 As OPEC Holds Output Steady Despite Russia’s War (CNBC)
• Ukraine makes the case for ending fossil fuels (Will Bunch Newsletter/Philadelphia Inquirer)
• How can I reduce my gas consumption? (Deutche-Welle News)
• One Way To Combat Russia? Move Faster On Clean Energy (LA Times)
• Australia’s record-breaking floods can be traced back to one thing, experts say (ABC Australia)
• California drought, Australia floods: Two sides of La Niña amplified by climate change (LA times/Yahoo News)
• Climate Responses That Backfire Are a Growing Problem, IPCC Says (Bloomberg)
• Colorado Oil And Gas Regulators Approve ‘Strongest’ Financial Rules (Colorado Newsline)
• RCMP Spending to Protect CGL Pipeline Tops $21 Million (The Tyee)
• Wildfires May Slow Recovery Of Ozone Layer – Study (BBC)
• A Historic Chance to Protect America’s Free-Flowing Rivers (The Revelator)
• GAO Concerned by Flood Risk Management at Hazardous Chemical Facilities (Homeland Security Today)
• Oil Industry Stirs Blowback After Weaving War Into U.S. Lobbying (Bloomberg)
• Biden Admin Won’t Appeal Judge’s Ruling Revoking Gulf Of Mexico Leases (Washington Post)
• Florida’s Beloved Key Deer May Be Close To Climate Extinction (Guardian UK)
• Here’s why Ford didn’t spin off its electric-vehicle business (CNBC)
• War in Ukraine: Could halting Russia’s Nord Stream 2 lead to more renewable energy in Europe? (Yahoo News)
• Utilities urge Supreme Court to dismiss challenge to EPA’s fleetwide carbon emissions approach (Utility Dive)
• For the First Time, Nations Band Together in a Move Toward Ending Plastics Pollution (Inside Climate News)
• World’s Insect Population Is In Decline, and That’s Bad News For Humans (NPR)
• Environmental Sacrifice Zones: 8 Places We’ve Given Up-Probably Forever (Environmental Health Network)
• “Rare Earths” from Coal Waste (Climate Crocks)
• 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.