‘Green News Report’ – September 26, 2023

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: New Orleans declares emergency over saltwater intrusion in drinking water; Fracking operations are “devouring America’s groundwater” amid persistent drought; PLUS: Republicans’ government shutdown will suspend critical operations like FEMA disaster recovery… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Facing ‘horrific’ sea level rise, Tuvalu crafts climate survival plan; Thousands of federal firefighters face a looming pay cut. How much is up to Congress; Exxon weighs chemicals output boost as EVs threaten gasoline use; Follow the Money: Why is an Arab oil man running international climate conference?; Heat-related deaths in 2022 hit highest level on record in England… PLUS: Time to Evolve: Dad goes viral on replacing gas stove… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• VIDEO: GOP Lawmaker’s Climate Gag At Pete Buttigieg Is Comedy Gold For All The Wrong Reasons (Huffington Post)
• South America broils in record end-of-winter heat wave:
• Extreme heat scorches large parts of South America as winter ends (CNN)
• Winter just ended in South America. It’s 110 degrees. (Grist):
  The unseasonal heat in Brazil is bad news for the world’s supply of coffee and soybeans.
• Brazil’s firefighters battle wildfires raging during rare late-winter heat wave (Newsday)
• Water emergency in Louisiana from saltwater intrusion:
• VIDEO: New Orleans Faces Water Emergency as Ocean Encroaches on Shrunken Mississippi (Climate Crocks)
• Army Corps will barge in up to 36 million gallons of freshwater a day as saltwater threatens drinking water south of New Orleans (CNN):
  The move comes as water levels are plummeting for the second consecutive year after this summer’s blistering heat and low rainfall triggered extreme drought over parts of the central US. As water levels drop, the threat of saltwater intrusion grows in Louisiana as ocean water pushes north into drinking water systems, unimpeded by the Mississippi’s normally mighty flow rate…[O]fficials “don’t believe that there is sufficient precipitation in the near term anywhere along the Mississippi River to materially change the conditions for the better.”
• Gov. Edwards requests federal emergency declaration for saltwater intrusion in Mississippi River (WGNO-New Orleans)
• Work begins to raise barrier against salt water pushing up Mississippi, threatening water supplies (NOLA)
• Mississippi River water levels plummet for second year: See the impact it’s had so far (USA Today)
• Fracking industry draining America’s groundwater at alarming rates:
• Fracking operations are devouring America’s groundwater (NY Times):
  ‘Monster Fracks’ Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier…
  Giant new oil and gas wells that require astonishing volumes of water to fracture bedrock are threatening America’s fragile aquifers.
• ‘Monster Fracks’ Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier. (no paywall, Water Politics):
  Together, oil and gas operators reported using about 1.5 trillion gallons of water since 2011, much of it from aquifers, the Times found. Fracking a single oil or gas well can now use as much as 40 million gallons of water or more.
• OPEC+ Cuts Offset By Booming U.S. Oil Production (Oil Price)
• America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow (NY Times, 8/23/2023):
  Overuse is draining and damaging aquifers nationwide, a New York Times data investigation revealed.
• Pennsylvania: Fracking pollution linked to significant increase in health risks
• Fracking Linked to Increased Cases of Lymphoma in Pennsylvania Children, Study Finds (Inside Climate News):
  Long awaited papers by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh looked at correlations between natural gas development and childhood cancers, asthma, and birth outcomes.
• Pennsylvanians living near fracking wells face higher risk for childhood cancer, low birth weights and asthma attacks (Environmental Health News):
  The childhood cancer study found that Southwestern Pennsylvania children who lived within one mile of one or more fracking wells were 5-7 times more likely to develop lymphoma compared to children who don’t live near fracking wells; and that children living closest to the highest density of wells had the highest risk…The asthma study found that people with asthma living within 10 miles of fracking wells were 4-5 times more likely to experience a severe asthma attack during the production phase at the wells.
• A Pennsylvania study suggests links between fracking and asthma, lymphoma in children (AP)
• GOP government shutdown will suspend critical safety operations, FEMA disaster recovery:
• FEMA Needs More Money to Keep Up with Disasters. Instead It Faces a Potential Government Shutdown (Scientific American):
  A government shutdown could force the Federal Emergency Management Agency to curtail all disaster activities at a time when it is already short of cash to respond to crises.
• VIDEO: Government Shutdown Would Stop FEMA Funding for Climate Disaster Areas (Climate Crocks
• VIDEO: Transportation Sec. Buttigieg warns of airline disruptions if government shuts down (The Hill/MSN)
• Ohio: Fracking injection wells suspended:
• Ohio Injection Wells Suspended Over ‘Imminent Danger’ to Drinking Water (Inside Climate News):
  Environmental groups have called for a suspension of all Class II wells injecting into the Ohio shale for over a decade, describing the shale as “holier than a Swiss cheese.”
• Fracking Fallout: Is America’s Drinking Water Safe? (Oil Price):
  Southern Ohio discovers toxic fracking wastewater migrating from deep injection wells, contaminating local groundwater…The main culprit (for now) is not the oil and gas wells themselves, but the injection wells used to dispose of huge volumes of water laced with toxic chemicals that have been injected into wells under great pressure.
• Biden EPA restores state/tribal authority under Clean Water Act:
• Biden administration restores the power of states and tribes to review projects to protect waterways (AP):
  The rule, which takes effect in November, reverses a Trump-era action that limited the ability of states and tribes to review pipelines, dams and other federally regulated projects within their borders. The Environmental Protection Agency says the new regulation will empower local authorities to protect rivers and streams while supporting infrastructure projects that create jobs.

‘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

• Facing ‘Horrific’ Pacific Rise, Tuvalu Crafts Climate Survival Plan (Thompson Reuters Foundation)
• Biden Tells Pacific Islands Leaders That He Will Act On Climate (AP)
• Thousands of federal firefighters face a looming pay cut. How much is up to Congress (NPR)
• Exxon Weighs Chemicals Output Boost as EVs Threaten Gasoline Use (Bloomberg)
• Follow the Money: Why Is An Arab Oil Man Running International Climate Conference? (Climate Crocks)
• Heat-related deaths in 2022 hit highest level on record in England (Guardian)
• Fix Disaster Response Now: Emergency management leaves out vulnerable groups and is poorly prepared for worsening climate-related disasters (Scientific American)
• ‘False Promise’: DOE’s Carbon Removal Plans Rankle Community Advocates (E&E News)
• Court Rejects Utah’s Request To Block EPA Smog Rule (The Hill)
• Judge Blocks US Plan To Scale Back Gulf Lease Sale To Protect Whale Species (AP)
• High School Students Launch ‘Green New Deal For Schools Campaign’ (The Hill)
• VIDEO: Time to Evolve: Dad Goes Viral on Replacing Gas Stove (Climate Crocks)
• Exxon Knew: Inside Exxon’s Strategy to Downplay Climate Change [no paywall] (Wall St. Journal/MSN)
• The Summer From Hell Was Just A Warning (E&E News)
• Rising Temperatures Are Wreaking Havoc Year-Round (gift link, Bloomberg)
• Rough years ahead [as new El Nino arrives] (Nature)
• Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (Climate Crocks)
• These are the places most at risk from record-breaking heat waves as the planet warms (CNN)
• Building Steam in Lithium Valley (The American Prospect)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: See what three degrees of global warming looks like (The Economist/YouTube)
• The 7 climate tipping points that could change the world forever (Grist)
• The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world (Guardian UK)
• Four solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC (Dr. Michael Mann, Penn Today)
• Environmental Sacrifice Zones: 8 Places We’ve Given Up-Probably Forever (Environmental Health Network)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
• 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
• 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)
• 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.