‘Green News Report’ – July 1, 2010

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: BP Disaster now Worst Ever in the Gulf — and worse than any of us can imagine; BP was ready for walruses, but not hurricanes; John Kerry, ready as ever to compromise… PLUS: Baby it’s hot outside, around the world — and on Capitol Hill … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Solar-powered plane set for pioneering night flight; U.S. fines BP for underpayment of gas royalties to Indian tribes; Dengue fever re-emerges in U.S.; Fossil fuel subsidies dwarf global clean energy; Fisker to build electric cars in old GM plant; Asia gripped by water crisis; Fannie & Freddie derail home energy retrofit incentives; New Zealand implement Emissions Trading; Arctic hyper-sensitive to global warming …PLUS: Green Up your Red, White & Blue! Tips to have your greenest July 4th evah! …

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

• Record-setting High Temps Around the World:
• Record June Heat Fells Robert Byrd, 18 Other Americans (Wonk Room)
• How hot is it? So hot that 8 countries in Africa and Asia set all-time high temperature records: And the Tea Party postponed their Las Vegas convention (Climate Progress)
• High temperatures break records in DC, Baltimore (Washington Examiner)
• The Latest on the BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf:
• WATCH: NEW VIDEO of the BP Oil Disaster in the Deep Waters of the Gulf: BPOilSlick.blogspot.com
• BP spill hits a somber record as Gulf’s biggest (AP)
• Alex weakens, still hinders oil cleanup, recovery (Reuters)
• Waves From Storm Hinder Spill Effort (NY Times)
• World’s largest oil skimmer heading to Gulf of Mexico (Mobile Press-Register)
• Uniformed Cops on BP Payroll? Enter the ACLU
• Louisiana Governor Seals Oil-Spill Records: Late last week the governor vetoed an amendment to a state bill that would have made public all records from his office related to the oil spill. (NYT Green)
• BP: Beyond Prosecution: How the oil industry and Chamber of Commerce convinced La. lawmakers to go easy on BP. (Mother Jones)
• EPA Releases Dispersant Test Results: “While this is important information to have, additional testing is needed to further inform the use of dispersants.” This is only the “first stage” of testing, the agency said. (Mother Jones)
• Health Effects After Exxon Valdez Went Unstudied (Pro Publica)
• Republicans say Dems are rushing oil spill safeguards bill (The Hill)
• BP Sends Local Gas Stations Signs To Post Stressing They’re ‘Part Of The Community’ (Think Progress)
• To subpoena BP or not to subpoena BP? That is the question (The Plum Line)
• Good: Senate GOP will lift block on subpoena power against BP (The Plum Line)
• Walruses, But Not Hurricanes? Another Glaring Omission in Oil Spill Response Plans:
• Hey, BP: The Gulf has hurricanes! (MaddowBlog)
• WATCH: Rep. Ed Markey on The Rachel Maddow Show (Video)
• BP Spill Plan Prepared for Hurricane? Nope (Mother Jones)
• FACT CHECK: Dispelling Myths and Falsehoods of the BP Oil Disaster:
• Oil Spill, Foreign Help and the Jones Act (FactCheck.org)
• Fox News, BP oil spill misinformation clearinghouse: Myths and falsehoods on the Gulf oil spill (Media Matters)
• Fox still hasn’t done Jones Act research: In fact, foreign ships are already involved in the oil spill response, and the Jones Act allows for exceptions in the case of an oil spill. (Media Matters)
• Drudge falsely suggests U.S. has not previously accepted international aid for oil spill (Media Matters)
• Climate & Clean Energy Legislation: The Undead
• White House Energy Session Changes No Minds (NY Times)
• Where the heck is their feck?: The latest in Democratic fecklessness: Conservatives will scream bloody murder about any bill Dems put forward. Any bill. Preemptive compromise doesn’t change that fact. Political battles can only be won with politics. (David Roberts, Grist)
• The Way They Were: Remember when Republicans liked cap-and-trade? (Grist)
• Democrats, Obama willing to scale back energy and climate change bill: “We believe we have compromised significantly, and we’re prepared to compromise further,” Kerry said. (Politico)
• Republicans demagogue against market-oriented climate measures they once supported; Meanwhile, the blame pre-game show begins: Now that the Grand Oil Party has been overrun by anti-science extremists, even “reasonable” members of the GOP have to demagogue against the most moderate, market-oriented, business-friendly climate policies they once supported. (Climate Progress)
• Waxman to push carbon limits in conference if Senate falls short (The Hill)
• IER Study is Wrong on Kerry-Lieberman: [A]n analytically weak study written by Chamberlain Economics (CE) distorts the Kerry-Lieberman energy and climate bill and overstates its costs. Expect it to be much-cited in the coming weeks. I expect some others will decide to copy it, since it is important, and since it is wrong. (Michael Levi, Council on Foreign Relations)
• Changing of the Guard: Byrd Passes, Kagan Rises:
• WATCH: Elena Kagan Talks Environment (Video) (Mother Jones)
• Kyl Denies That The Roberts Supreme Court Is On The Side Of ‘Big Business’: It’s A ‘Fradulent Claim’ (Think Progress)
• GOP Wants Kagan To Be Both For And Against Precedent (Wonk Room)
• Old Senator, New Tricks: What’s behind Robert Byrd’s surprising smackdown of Big Coal? (The Vine)
• Sen. Robert Byrd, OP-ED: “Coal Must Embrace The Future” (12/3/2009, Office of Sen. Byrd)
• Byrd’s Late Coal Conversion: For a long time, Byrd had been a staunch coal guy (it’s West Virginia, after all) who was firmly opposed to doing anything about global warming….[I]n the last year or so, Byrd genuinely started to change his views… (The Vine)
• Remembering Robert Byrd: Long-serving coal state Senator had shifted toward climate science and action: He called effort to block EPA action a vote “to dismiss scientific facts” about climate change (Climate Progress)

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…

• Solar-powered plane set for pioneering night flight: The prototype of a pioneering Swiss bid to fly around the world on solar energy aims to take to the skies on Thursday in the first attempt at a night flight fuelled by the sun, the team said. (AFP)
• Dengue Re-emerges in U.S., Spurring Race for Vaccine: The upsurge is not unexpected. Experts say more than half the world’s population will be at risk by 2085 because of greater urbanization, global travel and climate change. (Greenwire)
• New Analysis: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Dwarf Global Clean Energy Assistance (Natural Resources Defense Council)
• Fisker to Make Electric Cars in Old GM Plant (Now That’s Recycling!) (Treehugger)
• Asia gripped by water crisis: Asian Development Bank: Asia is in the grip of a water crisis that could set back the region’s robust economic growth if left unresolved, according to a top Asian Development Bank (ADB) official. …”We believe that the estimate recently made about Asia having a 40 percent gap between demand and supply by 2030 is a reasonable estimate.” (AFP)
• PACE IN THE HOLE: Fannie and Freddie attack clean-energy plan: At issue is what gets paid first if a borrower defaults — the mortgage or the clean-energy assessment? (Grist)
• Energy Savers, Loan Losers (NY Times):
  The Obama administration is devoting $150 million in stimulus money for programs that help homeowners install solar panels and other energy improvements, which they pay for over time on their property tax bills.
  …
  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government entities that guarantee more than half of the residential mortgages in the United States, have different priorities. They are worried that taxpayers will end up as losers if a homeowner defaults on a mortgage on a home that uses such creative financing. Typically, property taxes must be paid first from any proceeds on a foreclosed home.
• Fuel, power bills to rise as NZ gets ETS: “The hard truth around climate change is there is no free lunch. If you want to make change, if you want to reduce emissions, then there is going to be a cost.” (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• Arctic Overreacts to Climate Change: Geological research shows that whenever Earth heats up a few degrees, the Arctic gets three times as warm.: This year, that could mean the Arctic could be the warmest ever recorded since data from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies show that global temperatures in 2010 have reached record levels. (Discovery News)
• U.S. Fines BP for Misreporting Gas Production Royalties on Indian Tribal Lands (NYT Green)
• RED, WHITE, AND GREEN 4TH OF JULY! (Inhabitat)
• Your Guide to a Green Independence Day (Greenzer)