‘Green News Report’ – July 13, 2010

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Has BP finally put a lid on it?; Drilling moratorium Round Two; Haiti’s forgotten disaster, six months later … PLUS: Climate scientists exonerated again, AGAIN (again) … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Zombie lies concocted by climate deniers likely to stick around despite corrections; Reports from four fronts in the War on Warming; Did BP play a role in terrorist’s release, to get drilling rights in Libya?; Death toll rises after levees fail in China; PA quarantines cattle contaminated with fracking fluid; Obama admin announces Alaska drilling lease sale; EPA uses industry studies to test safety of weedkiller …PLUS: Doomsday: Could BP Spill Kill All Life on Earth?…

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

• GOP Bringing’ the Crazy: BP Oil Disaster Was An Inside Job!:
• Demonstrably, Provably, Factually Incorrect: VIDEO: GOP Reps Push Conspiracy Theories: BP Oil Spill Was An Inside Job, Obama Wants Poor Response (Think Progress):
  Of course, literally nothing either Jones or Paul said was true or is substantiated by evidence. Obama negotiated the $20 billion escrow account; he did not create it by executive order, as Paul contends. Also, Obama has deployed thousands of National Guard reserves — however in many cases, they are not being used because Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) and others have not formulated plans to put them to work.
• VIDEO: Rachel Maddow: GOP Flouts Oil Disaster Lessons, Embraces Big Oil (MSNBC):
• Haiti’s Disaster — Six Months Later:
• Six Months Later, Basic Aid Still Scarce In Haiti (NPR)
• Sean Penn, Committed to Helping Haiti (Huffington Post)
• Climate Scientists Exonerated Again — AGAIN:
• British Panel Clears Scientists (NY Times)
• Climate scientists exonerated in ‘climategate’ but public trust damaged: The leaked ‘climategate’ e-mails showed lack of transparency, plus some politicking. But while scientists have been largely cleared of wrongdoing, the impact has shaken climate science. (Christian Science Monitor)
• The LATEST in the BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf:
• New BP cap set for slow tests of how it holds oil (AP)
• In BP’s Record, a History of Boldness and Costly Blunders (NY Times):
  The problems at Thunder Horse were not an anomaly, but a warning that BP was taking too many risks and cutting corners in pursuit of growth and profits, according to analysts, competitors and former employees. Despite a catalog of crises and near misses in recent years, BP has been chronically unable or unwilling to learn from its mistakes, an examination of its record shows.
• As BP gets closer to sealing leaking well, the stakes get higher (Houston Chronicle)
• Federal government sends third bill to BP stemming from oil spill, this one for $99.7 million (NOLA.com)
• The BP Screw-Up We Almost Didn’t Hear About: While oil leaked into the Gulf, toxic chemicals spewed from BP’s refinery in Texas City (Texas Observer)
• BP Partner Anadarko Refuses to Pay Spill Bill (Houston Chronicle)
• OP-ED: BP’s miserly ways are hurting spill victims (NOLA.com)
• Coast Guard Lifts Ban on News Coverage Near Booms (AP)
• BP Ignoring Dispersant Limits With Coast Guard’s Consent (Mother Jones)
• Lubchenco: ‘Highly Toxic’ Undersea Cloud Of Oil ‘Is Undoubtedly Poisonous’ (Wonk Room)
• Commission Hearings Day 2: Federal government’s stance on dispersants questioned (NOLA.com)
• The BP Blame Game: The Justice Dept. thinks 5 other companies besides BP are also responsible (Mother Jones)
• Former Contractor: ‘Cutthroat’ BP ‘Not Worried About Cleaning Up That Spill’ (Think Progress)
• Discovery of second pipe in Deepwater Horizon riser stirs debate among experts (NOLA.com)
• OP-ED: Our Life, Between Sea and Oil (NY Times)
• Major BP Shareholder Rep. Sensenbrenner Says BP Doesn’t ‘Deserve Any Type Of Executive Bonuses’ (Think Progress)
• Drilling activity up in second quarter, reversing earlier decline (The Hill)
• Rove’s new oil-funded GOP group plans to spend millions this fall: They started with a bang in April, cashing a $1 million check from a Texas oil magnate. (AP)
• Obama Administration Issues NEW Deepwater Drilling Moratorium:
• New drilling moratorium has different reasoning, but similar conclusions (NOLA.com)
• U.S. Issues Revised Offshore Drilling Ban (NY Times):
  “I remain open to modifying the new deepwater drilling suspensions based on new information,” Mr. Salazar said, “but industry must raise the bar on its practices and answer fundamental questions about deepwater safety, blowout prevention and containment and oil spill response.”
• Commission: Drilling moratorium involves more than just inspections, Interior official says

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

• Lies Concocted By Climate Deniers Likely To Stick Around Despite Corrections (DeSmog Blog)
• Reports From Four Fronts in the War on Warming (NY Times)
• Did BP Play a Role In Release of Terrorist To Gain Drilling Rights in Libya?: Four U.S. senators have called on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to investigate whether BP influenced the release of Pan Am Flight 103 Lockerbie bomber (The Upshot)
• 44 Dead, 17 Missing: Chinese floods, levee failures test nation’s resources (CNN)
• Pennsylvania quarantines contaminated cattle over natural gas drilling fluid: Officials have quarantined 28 cows that may have drunk toxic waste water from natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania, adding to concerns about health risks arising from exploiting the state’s vast shale deposits. (Reuters)
• Doomsday: Could BP Spill Kill All Life on Earth?: Could the Deepwater Horizon spill cause a massive eruption of methane that destroys civilization as we know it, bet-hedging question mark? (TIME Magazine)
• From the Dept. of Not Learning: Obama admin announces Alaska drilling. What could go wrong?: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the lease sale balances a commitment to energy production with environmental protection. (Jonathan Hiskes, Grist)
• Weighing Safety of Weed Killer in Drinking Water, EPA Relies Heavily on Industry-Backed Studies: Agency Says Company’s Evidence ‘Scientifically More Robust’ than Independent Research (Huffington Post Investigative Fund)