‘Green News Report’ – April 21, 2011

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: It’s hard to believe it’s only been a year: Our not-at-all fond look back over 87 days of the BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf, and its aftermath … PLUS: In honor of Earth Day, a message from the past about our shared future … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? 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’ (see links below): Google invests $100 million in OR wind; Massive fracking blowout at PA natural gas well; Big Break for Big Oil leads to larger burden for taxpayers; Watch Van Jones’ inspiring keynote speech at Power Shift 2011; TX burning ‘from border to border’; Chevron mines solar energy at mine waste dump; Report: poisonous chemicals injected into the ground; More than 3,200 Gulf wells unplugged; Charles Manson does his best to kill green credibility; Cape Wind approved to begin construction; Koch Industries Buying Ads To Refute News Stories; Supreme Court skeptical of allowing global-warming case to move forward … PLUS: Hypocrisy: Rupert Murdoch is totally against the global warming he told you not to believe in …

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

• WATCH: Carl Sagan – Pale Blue Dot (Carl Sagan Portal on YouTube)
• Watch the full episode of Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” until April 29, 2011 (YouTube)
• Pale Blue Dot (Wikipedia)
• BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf, One Year Later:
• New Orleans Times-Picayune Gulf Spill Roundup Page (NOLA.com)
• 10 Reasons to Still Be Pissed Off About the BP Disaster (Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones):
  1. BP is gunning to get back to drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. When the Department of Interior issued its first deepwater permit since the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it was for a well that BP owns half of.
  …
  4. While those most affected by the spill are still waiting for payments, some state and local officials have been making bank off the disaster.
  …
  6. GOP House members want more drilling off all our coasts with less environmental review.
  …
  7. “Fail safe” technology isn’t fail safe…..
• “BP hasn’t made people whole” (Grist)
• The Gulf Disaster One Year Later (Mother Jones)
• Analysis: A year after BP spill, drilling risks linger: The worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history spurred federal regulators to overhaul safety rules, but critics say gaps remain that could leave America’s coast vulnerable to another disaster. (Reuters)
• How Much Damage Did the Deepwater Horizon Spill Do to the Gulf of Mexico?: What is the state of the Gulf of Mexico one year after the Deepwater Horizon blowout began? (Nature)
• Obama on oil spill: Progress but ‘job isn’t done’ (CNN):
  President Barack Obama said Wednesday that “significant progress” has been made in tackling the Gulf oil spill disaster, but he stressed that the “job isn’t done.”
  …
  Obama said his administration has “brought every available resource” in what he called the “largest oil spill response” in American history, with about 48,000 people working to deal with the spill “at the height of the response.”

  And a year later, he said, “nearly 2,000 responders are actively working in the Gulf to aid in the ongoing recovery efforts.”

• In the last year, 84 bills were intro’d in Congress related to BP oilspill. 2 passed the House. None passed the Senate. None. (Common Cause)
• A year out from BP oil spill, parties still sparring over drilling, response to tragedy: One year after the worst oil spill in the country’s history, lawmakers are still wrangling over off-shore drilling, the liability cap for spill-related damages and the Obama administration’s response to the incident, which left 11 dead (Washington Post)
• A Year After Spill, Reseaerchers Put Gulf Ecosystem Under Microscope: (NOLA.com):
  Last spring, as BP’s unchecked gusher of oil began to spread across the Gulf of Mexico, University of Miami oceanographer Jerald Ault tried to answer the question that was on everyone’s lips: What will this do to the Gulf?
• Beyond the Oil Spill, the Tragedy of an Ailing Gulf (New York Times)
• Death Toll from BP Spill Still Rising as Residents Die from Spill-Related Illnesses (Democracy Now)
• Oil Still Oozing Along Coastline Amid Dying Marsh Grasses (NOLA.com)
• Entire Gulf of Mexico Reopened to Fishing A Year After BP Spill (Environmenal News Service):
  Federal regulators [Tuesday] reopened commercial and recreational fishing in all federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico that were closed to fishing due to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
• Researchers Say Oil Dispersants Still an Issue in the Gulf (Truthout):
  Scientists are still working to understand the ecological and human health impacts of the environmental disaster that followed BP’s Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico one year ago. While it may too soon to identify the long-term consequences of the disaster, a growing body of evidence reveals that the massive release of oil combined with the unprecedented amount of chemical oil dispersants applied by BP is still an environmental threat a year later.
• Assessment of Gulf Spill’s Damage Submerged in Murky Legal Waters (Greenwire)
• Gulf Coast Marks Oil Spill Anniversary With Prayers And Appeals (Los Angeles Times)
• After Oil Spill, Shrimpers Hope For Blessed Season (NPR)
• In Cleaning Oiled Marshlands, A Sea Of Unknowns (NPR)
• ‘Quagmire Of Bureaucracy’ Stifles Gulf Spill Research (NPR)
• Biloxi Local Government Defending Shopping With BP Oil Spill Grants (Biloxi Sun Herald)
• Study: Gulf Spill’s Social Costs May Linger for Years (McClatchy)
• Obama Marks Anniversary of BP Disaster (New York Times)
• Drilling Support Rises on Spill Anniversary (FL Capitol News Service)
• Gov. Scott Defends Plan Not To Sue BP for Spill (Pensacola News Journal)
• How Your Taxpayer Dollars Are Paying For BP’s Spill Cleanup (Talking Points Memo)
• A Year After Gulf Disaster, BP Still Being Awarded Lucrative Government Contracts (Jason Leopold, Truthout)
• BP Doubles Down on Oil Spill Liability:
• BP’s criminal negligence exposed (Al Jazeera English):
  “We have sued them under the Clean Water Act,” Kieran Suckling, the executive director and founder of the CBD told Al Jazeera. “The way the Act works is it levies a fine based on the number of gallons [of oil] spilled and how malicious or criminal BP was acting when the spill occurred. So a big part of the suit is about determining how many barrels were spilled, and BP’s level of negligence.”
• BP Sues Halliburton in Latest Oil Spill Claim (Reuters):
  BP Plc filed a lawsuit for more than $42 billion against Halliburton, which cemented the blown-out well which caused the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, after claiming a similar sum from rig owner Transocean.
• BP Sues Maker of ‘Faulty’ Blowout Preventer in Oil Spill (Los Angeles Times)
• BP Sues Rig Owner for $40B; Blames It for Disaster (Associated Press)
• BP Files Suits Against Gulf Rig Owner And Maker of Blowout Preventer (Washington Post)
• BP: A Textbook Example of How NOT to Handle PR (NPR)
• BP’s PR Campaign Fails To Clean Up Reputation (Guardian)
• EARTH DAY IS ON FRIDAY, APRIL 22nd:
• TAKE ACTION: Make BP Pay Protest Day, April 20th (PowerShift 2011):
  On Wednesday, we’re organizing flash-mobs at BP stations nationwide. We will creatively, nonviolently disrupt business as usual at BP locations on the anniversary of the start of the worst oil disaster in US history – and then tell our story with great photos and videos afterward.

  1. Register your event: Use the sign-up tool below or text BP to 228466 to put your action on the map!

  2. Make a plan: Pick a BP station near you, and a agree on a meeting time and place with a group of friends. Agree on how you’d like to make your voices heard on Wednesday. [MORE]

• Video: Power Shift 2011 flashmob swarms BP, “Don’t forget the BP oil disaster!” (Climate Progress)
• Studies Begin to Reveal Effects of Gulf Oil Spill (Oceana)
• Meet the Gulf ‘Spillionaires’: Profiteering and Mismanagement in the Wake of the BP Oil Spill (Pro Publica):
  Some people profiteered from the spill by charging BP outrageous rates for cleanup. Others profited from BP claims money, handed out in arbitrary ways. So many people cashed in that they earned nicknames — “spillionaires” or “BP rich.” Meanwhile, others hurt by the spill ended up getting comparatively little.

  In the end, BP’s attempt to make things right — spending more than $16 billion so far, mostly on claims of damage and cleanup — created new divisions and even new wrongs. Because the federal government ceded control over spill cleanup spending to BP, it’s impossible to know for certain what that money accomplished, or what exactly was done.

• Oil Industry Threatens Obama Admin Over Clean Water Act Guidance for Wetlands(Greenwire)
• ONGOING COVERAGE: Japan’s Ongoing Triple Disaster & Nuclear Nightmare:
• How to Help: Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (NY Times)
• UPDATED Coverage of Japan’s Nuclear Disaster at BRAD BLOG.COM (BradBlog.com)
• Updated: Japan’s Nuclear Emergency Explained (Mother Jones)
• Updated Full Coverage: JAPAN NUCLEAR CRISIS (Kyodo News)
• Updated Full Coverage Page at Reuters (Reuters)
• IAEA Update on Japan Earthquake (International Atomic Energy Agency)
• Facts: Nuclear Power Safety (Union of Concerned Scientists)
• LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: JAPAN’S ONGOING NUCLEAR CRISIS:
• Beyond our imagination: Fukushima and the problem of assessing risk. (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists)
• Japan to issue fines of up to $1,200 to anyone entering 12-mile evacuation zone around Fukushima nuclear plant (Japan Times)
• Japan’s nuclear emergency medical response team learns bitter lesson (Japan Times)
• The final moments a husband shared with his wife of almost 50 years (Mainichi Daily News)

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

• This Week in Google: $100 Million for Wind Energy:
• Wind Power: Google invests $100 million in giant Oregon wind farm (Grist):
  Another day, another $100 million invested in clean energy.

  Google has been on a green tech investment roll of late. Last week, the search giant put $168 million into BrightSource Energy’s 370-megawatt solar thermal power plant, currently the world’s largest solar project, which is under construction in the Southern California desert. And on Monday, Google announced it would invest $100 million in the 845-megawatt Shepherds Flat Wind Farm in Oregon. Shepherds Flat, being built near Arlington, Ore., will be the world’s largest turbine farm when completed, if it hasn’t been overtaken by another project by then.

• Drilling Fluid Gushes From Northern PA Gas Well (AP):
  A blowout at a natural gas well in rural northern Pennsylvania spilled thousands of gallons of chemical-laced water Wednesday, contaminating a stream and leading officials to ask seven families who live nearby to evacuate as crews struggled to stop the gusher.
• Big Break for Big Oil, Larger Burden for Taxpayers (Center for Public Integrity):
• WATCH: Van Jones at Power Shift 2011 — Full Keynote Speech (YouTube)
• Texas burning ‘from border to border’ (CNN):
  “We’re actually seeing Texas burn from border to border. We’ve got it in west Texas, in east Texas, in north Texas, in south Texas — it’s all over the state,” Texas Forest Service spokeswoman April Saginor told CNN Radio. “We’ve got one in the Dallas area that’s four fires that have actually merged together.”

  Saginor said firefighters from 34 states are now in Texas battling blazes that, over the past two weeks, have destroyed more than 170 homes.

  “Some (fires) are over 100,000 acres and they’ve been burning for over a week, so that’s our priority right now,” Saginor said, “to put out the big ones.”

• Chevron mines solar energy at tailings dump: Chevron Mining’s molybdenum mine in Questa, N.M. , now sports a field of 173 concentrating photovoltaic trackers – generating one megawatt of electricity at peak output – on the tailings site where excess mining debris was dumped. (Forbes)
• Democratic Report: CARCINOGENS INJECTED INTO WELLS: Millions of gallons of potentially hazardous chemicals and known carcinogens were injected into wells by leading oil and gas service companies from 2005-2009, a report by three House Democrats said Saturday. (AP)
• More than 3,200 Gulf wells unplugged, unprotected
• Charles Manson does his best to kill green credibility (Grist)
• Cape Wind approved: The U.S. could have offshore wind this year (Bloomberg)
• Koch Industries Buying Ads To Refute News Stories (Raw Story)
• Supreme Court skeptical of allowing global-warming case to move forward: Supreme Court justices across the ideological spectrum signaled Tuesday that they might halt a huge global-warming lawsuit in which states are asking the federal courts to restrict polluting power plants outside their borders. (Forbes)