‘Green News Report’ – March 31, 2022

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Europe prepares for energy shortages as Poland bans Russian energy imports; Biden Admin opens tap to Strategic Petroleum Reserve, insists climate change remains a priority; National transition to electric vehicles would save both money and lives, new study finds; PLUS: Solar energy hits milestone, first terawatt of power… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Historic restructuring of flood insurance begins; Taxpayers spend billions on crop insurance on frequently flooded land; Major automakers back tough US vehicle emissions rules in court battle; Canada lays out C$9.1 billion roadmap to meet 2030 climate targets; Europe can lead the way through an energy crisis without more fossil fuels; Rapid growth of wind and solar could help limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius; Microplastics found in human blood for first time; With eyes on Russia, the U.S. military prepares for an Arctic future; Why estimates of the ‘cost’ of climate action are overly pessimistic… PLUS: Are CO2 pipelines safe?… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Germany prepares for energy shortages, while Poland bans Russian energy:
• Poland says its ban on all Russian oil and gas imports is the most radical in Europe (NPR)
• Germany asks people to reduce gas consumption; Poland to halt Russian oil imports (Washington Post)
• Germany close to gas rationing as it activates emergency fuel plan (Guardian UK)
• Russia appears to be softening its gas-for-rubles demand, easing supply risks to Europe — for now (CNBC
• Russia raises stakes in energy standoff by insisting on rubles for gas (CNN)
• Europe grapples with 2 crises connected to gas: War, warming (E&E News)
• Biden major release from Strategic Petroleum Reserve:
• Biden orders release of 1 million barrels oil a day from strategic reserve to hit brakes on gas prices (AP):
  The White House said Biden would also call on Congress to impose financial penalties on oil and gas companies that lease public lands but aren’t producing. He also intends to invoke the Defense Production Act to encourage the mining of critical minerals for batteries in electric vehicles.
• Biden Plan Would Release a Million Barrels of Oil a Day From Reserve (NYTimes)
• Oil prices dip after report that Biden plans to tap petroleum reserve (CBS/MSN):
  Reports that President Biden plans to tap the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the third time in six months in a move to curb soaring U.S. fuel costs have pushed oil prices down nearly $5 a barrel in overnight trading.
• Gas prices are high. Oil CEOs reveal why they’re not drilling more (CNN)
• Biden Administration rejects complaints over climate policy and fossil fuels:
• VIDEO: Treasury Secretary: Quicker Switch to Renewables Needed (Climate Crocks):
  If anything, the problem is that we haven’t moved as rapidly as we should have. Europe and the US would be less exposed to the pressures that this conflict is putting on our energy markets if we had greater reliance on renewables.
• Jamie Dimon to Joe Biden: We need a ‘Marshall Plan’ for US and European energy security (CNN)
• Biden’s LNG deal with Europe jolts gas critics (E&E News)
• Can Biden expand gas and zero out emissions? (E&E News)
• American Lung Association: transition to EVs would save money and lives:
• Zeroing in on Healthy Air: A National Assessment of Health and Climate Benefits of Zero-Emission Transportation and Electricity (American Lung Association)
• A flip to EVs over gas cars could save $1.2 trillion in health costs and stop nearly 3 million asthma attacks: American Lung Association (MarketWatch)
• Report: US policy shift to EVs, renewable energy could save $1.2 trillion in health costs (Green Car Reports)
• Wind/Solar hit new records:
• Wind and solar generated a record 10 percent of the world’s power in 2021, report shows (CNN)
• Solar’s First Trillion Watts Arrives During a Wartime Energy Transition (Bloomberg Quint):
  The energy transition has become a weapon.
• Humans have installed 1 terawatt of solar capacity, generated over 1 petawatt of solar electricity in 2021 (PV Magazine)

‘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

• Historic Restructuring Of Flood Insurance Begins (E&E News)
• Taxpayers Spend Billions on Crop Insurance on Frequently Flooded Land (Inside Climate News)
• Major Automakers Back Tough US Vehicle Emissions Rules In Court Battle (Reuters)
• Canada Lays Out C$9.1 Bln Roadmap To Meet 2030 Climate Targets (Reuters)
• Europe can lead the way through an energy crisis without more fossil fuels (Vox)
• Rapid Growth of Wind and Solar Could Help Limit Warming to 1.5 degrees C (Yale e360)
• Microplastics found in human blood for first time (Guardian UK)
• Are CO2 pipelines safe? (E&E News)
• Democrats take aim at Big Oil in lead up to midterms (The Hill)
• Texas fire burns more than 33,000 acres (CNN)
• Federal regulators pulls back plan to assess climate impact of gas pipelines (AP)
• With Eyes on Russia, the U.S. Military Prepares for an Arctic Future (NY Times)
• Why estimates of the ‘cost’ of climate action are overly pessimistic (Carbon Brief)
• How Biden’s budget would change the energy sector (E&E News),/li>
  

• Koch Industries Bets Big on Batteries (Climate Crocks)
• With Ukraine farmers on frontlines, U.N. food chief warns of ‘devastation’ (Reuters/MSN)
• Iowans at Capitol push for stronger restrictions on eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines (Des Moines Register)
• Newsom imposes new California water restrictions — leaves details to locals (CalMatters)
• 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.