‘Green News Report’ – April 30, 2024

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Extreme weather grips Africa; Sea levels on the US Gulf Coast are rising twice as fast as the rest of the planet; More Americans breathing toxic air, new report finds; PLUS: Historic new EPA rules will slash air, water, and climate pollution from U.S. power plants… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): A water crisis in Mississippi turns into a fight against privatization; US experts predict one of most active hurricane seasons on record; Biden Administration moves to speed up permits for clean energy; Trump will dismantle key US weather and science agency, climate experts fear; Criminal charges for ‘massive water heist’ in CA; Republican AGs attack Biden’s EPA for pursuing environmental discrimination cases… PLUS: As election looms, what is Mexico doing about climate change?… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Extreme weather grips Africa:
• Kenya flood death toll rises as more torrential rain forecast (AFP Nairobi/Guardian)
• VIDEO: More rain expected in Kenya where weeks of floods have left scores dead (Africa News)
• Weather tracker: heavy rainfall causes flooding and death in east Africa (Guardian)
• Africa’s megacities threatened by heat, floods and disease – urgent action is needed to start greening and adapt to climate change (The Conversation)
• Zimbabwe declares drought disaster, the latest in a region where El Nino has left millions hungry (AP)
• El Nino-linked drought threatens energy and food supplies in southern Africa with millions at risk (SkyNews):
  An extreme drought is parching countries across southern Africa, withering crops, licking away at the Zambezi River and threatening energy and food production. The drought has been blamed on the warming El Nino weather pattern and warmer temperatures from climate change.
• Sea level is rising fast in U.S. Gulf and Southeastern states:
• On the U.S. Gulf Coast, flooding risk grows as sea level rise accelerates (Washington Post):
  These supercharged floods are one of the most pernicious impacts of an unexpected surge in sea levels across the U.S. Gulf and southeast coasts — with the ocean rising an average of 6 inches since 2010, one of the fastest such changes in the world, according to a Washington Post examination of how sea level rise is affecting the region…Scientists do not know for certain why this region is experiencing a surge in sea levels beyond the global average, but one theory is that naturally occurring ocean currents are moving ever-warmer ocean water deep into the Gulf. This warm water expands and causes seas to rise. This comes on top of sinking land, which has long exacerbated sea level rise in the region.
• The Drowning South: Where seas are rising at alarming speed (Washington Post)
• State of the Air: Millions more Americans breathing polluted air:
• US air quality is slipping after years of improvement (AP):
  Over the last two years the nation had more polluted air days than just a few years earlier, federal data shows. While it remains unclear whether this is the beginning of a trend, health experts say it’s troubling to see air quality progress stagnate.
• Air quality in some parts of US worst in 25 years, report says (Reuters)
• Sacramento, much of California receive failing grades in State of the Air report (CBS Sacramento)
• 2024 ‘State of the Air’ Report Reveals Most ‘Hazardous’ Air Quality Days in 25 Years (American Lung Association):
  “Climate change is causing more dangerous air pollution. Every day that there are unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution means that someone – a child, grandparent, uncle or mother – struggles to breathe. We must do more to ensure everyone has clean air.” The report found that nearly 4 in 10 people live in an area that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution.
• EPA issues landmark new power plant rules to slash air, water, and climate pollution:
• Strict new EPA rules would force coal-fired power plants to capture emissions or shut down (AP):
  [T]he rules issued Thursday complete “a historic grand slam” of major actions by the Biden administration to reduce carbon pollution, said David Doniger, a climate and clean energy expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council…Together, the climate law and the suite of EPA rules “are the biggest reductions in carbon pollution we’ve ever made and will put the country on the pathway to zero out carbon emissions,” Doniger said.
• Biden administration finalizes new rules for power plants in one of its most significant climate actions to-date (CNN):
  After a significant court challenge to Obama-era rules prevailed at the Supreme Court in 2022, the new regulations give power generators options to choose how they meet pollution requirements…A senior administration official said the EPA was “really confident” it had “carefully crafted” the final rules within the confines of the law. But some industry stakeholders said it was just the opposite.
• VIDEO: EPA limits 4 types of power plant pollution with sweeping rulemaking (ABC News)
• VIDEO: Administrator Regan Announces Standards to Reduce Pollution from Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants (EPA/YouTube)
• Explainer: New EPA power sector rules set up likely legal clashes (Reuters):
  The new carbon emissions regulations come nearly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a previous power plant emissions rule developed during the Obama administration, which sought to spur a shift from coal to cleaner energy sources.

‘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

• A Water Crisis In Mississippi Turns Into A Fight Against Privatization (Grist)
• US experts predict one of most active hurricane seasons on record (Guardian)
• Biden Administration Moves to Speed Up Permits for Clean Energy (Reuters)
• Trump Will Dismantle Key US Weather And Science Agency, Climate Experts Fear (Guardian)
• VIDEO: Massive Iowa Tornado: “I’ve Never Seen Anything This Large Before” (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Feds say he masterminded an epic California water heist. Some farmers say he’s their Robin Hood (LA Times)
• EPA administrator Michael Regan on undoing the toxic legacy of power plants in the US (The Verge)
• Republican AGs attack Biden’s EPA for pursuing environmental discrimination cases (AP)
• Countries Consider Pact To Reduce Plastic Production By 40% In 15 Years (Guardian)
• US Military Bases Teem With PFAS. Still No Firm Plan To Clean Them Up (Grist)
• Meet the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners (Mongabay)
• What Is Mexico Doing About Climate Change? (Yale Climate Communcations)
• How Abrupt U-Turns Are Defining U.S. Environmental Regulations (NY Times)
• Angry Mexican Farmers Target Avocado Orchards That Suck Up Too Much Water (AP)
• How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry’s Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)
• The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)
• ‘In A Word, Horrific’: Trump’s Extreme Anti-Environment Blueprint (Guardian)
• Plug-in hybrids vs. electric cars: We did the math on which is better for you (Washington Post)
• How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)
• Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)
• These are the places most at risk from record-breaking heat waves as the planet warms (CNN)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• 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)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
• An Optimist’s Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)