‘Green News Report’ – June 16, 2009

IN TODAY’S AUDIO REPORT: National security vs. your right to know about highly hazardous waste dumps; A tiny town vs. Big Coal; Digital TV transition vs. disposal of old, toxic TVs … PLUS: The GOP’s “new” energy plan, same as the old plan…. All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail, radioactive nuclear waste? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (links below): How’s he doin’? An interview with Energy Secretary (and Nobel Prize Winner) Stephen Chu; Sir Paul promotes “Meat-free Mondays”; High-schoolers solve plastics problems… PLUS: Supreme Court ruling in coal company bias suit … See below for more Green News!

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today’s episode follow below…

• House GOP Energy Bill Mentions Oil Three Times More Often Than It Mentions Renewable Energy
• House GOP proposes 25% national energy tax, recycles Cheney energy plan
• House Republicans Draft Energy Bill With Heavy Focus on Nuclear Power
• Republican “American Energy Act” Is Identical To President Bush’s Failed Plan [emphasis in original]
  Under The Bush Energy Plan, U.S. Became More Dependent On Imported Oil From OPEC Countries.
  …
  Under The Bush Energy Plan, Average Household Energy Costs Rose Over $1,100.
  …
  Over this period, the typical annual American household expenditure on electricity rose more than $170, and the typical annual American expenditure on gasoline rose more than $960 (in 2007 dollars). Note that the gasoline price increases listed here do not include the unprecedented $147 per barrel of oil and $4.11 gasoline prices that occurred in the summer of 2008.”
• Communities at risk, but coal ash sites secret
• Coal secrecy: Which ash dams are ‘high hazard’?
• Pennsylvania town fights big coal on mining rights
  “This illegitimate bestowal of civil and political rights upon corporations prevents the administration of laws within Blaine Township and usurps basic human and constitutional rights guaranteed to the people of Blaine Township,” says the township’s Corporate Rights Ordinance of 2006
  ….
  “Who dictates how we are going to live here?” asked Board spokesman Michael Vacca. “Should it not be us?”
• The Dirty Truth About (Some) E-Waste Collections
  Electronic waste is a huge problem, containing both a large number of highly toxic materials and hard-to-recycle compounds; but there are valuable materials in electronics that can be harvested and potentially reused or sold on the commodities market. …Given the choice between landfilling millions of pounds of electronics containing lead, mercury and other toxins, and collecting it for supposedly eco-friendly recycling, it’s not a difficult decision to make.
  …
  Free collection drives fall into a simple rule of thumb, according to Barbara Kyle, the national coordinator for the Electronics Takeback Coalition: follow the money.

  “If you have someone who is going to take all your stuff, including TVs, for free, then stop right there: they’re going to be exporting,” Kyle explained.

• Digital TV Transition May Create Tons of E-Waste
• Warning: Don’t trash that analog TV: Landfills are bracing for the great analog inundation. Help out by recycling your old analog TV.
• Your Television May Be this Month’s Land-Filler: The Analog Digital Conversion
• Best Buy Electronics Recycling Program: Greener Together
• Electronics Take Back Coalition: Find responsible E-Waste Recyclers

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’: More green news not covered in today’s audio report… See below!

• So How’s Chu Doing At Revamping The Energy Department?
• Is Telecommuting Bad for Business?
• Arctic Indigenous Peoples Being Poisoned by Industry Thousands of Miles Away
  If you think the pollution in New York, Los Angeles or Detroit is scary, consider this: Arctic indigenous peoples often have levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in their blood and breast milk that are 10 times higher than the residents of major American cities.
• Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono urge meat-free Mondays
• McCartney urges ‘meat-free days’ to tackle climate change
• Day of the lentil burghers: Ghent goes veggie to lose weight and save planet: Belgian city hopes radical experiment will catch on; Meat, fish and seafood off the menu every Thursday in all government facilities
• Student isolates microbe that lunches on plastic bags
• High school girl discovers styrofoam-eating bacterium: Top awards in last month’s Intel International Science Fair go to Tseng I-Ching from Taiwan, who discovered ‘red bacterium’ that metabolizes polystyrene
• Supreme Court: Coal Giant’s Campaign Dollars Pose Risk of Bias [emphasis added]:
  When the CEO of coal giant Massey Energy poured $3 million into a campaign to unseat a West Virginia judge four years ago, he knew the winner of that election would likely decide a $50 million lawsuit against his company, the U.S. Supreme Court says.

  Massey’s candidate, Brent Benjamin, squeaked by with a victory in 2004. A few months later, the new Justice Benjamin heard Massey’s lawsuit appeal and joined a 3-2 ruling in the coal giant’s favor.