‘Green News Report’ – July 7, 2011

NOTE: Due to a technical malfunction, we were unable to produce the usual audio version of today’s Green News Report. The GNR was planning to be off next week anyway, so the “vacation” comes a bit earlier, unfortunately, as we wait for replacement equipment to arrive in time for our return on the week of July 17.

Nonetheless, the stories we had planned to discuss in today’s audio report, and our usual ‘Green News Extra’ coverage, all follow below. – DD & BF

TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport
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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: ExxonMobil’s oil spill credibility problem; NEW rules for coal pollution; Night-time solar power in Spain; Jellyfish attack ANOTHER nuclear plant … PLUS: Final voyage for the U.S. Space Shuttle: America can still do big things … 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): Proposed Keystone XL pipeline Is 20x bigger than Exxon’s faulty pipeline; US funds project to produce fuel from corn waste; Chinese oil spill went unreported for a month; Fertilizer phosphate starting to run low; Salazar slams GOP push for deep conservation cuts; Imported fish with banned chemicals reaching US consumers; White House Study Explains Why GOP Targets EPA; French Nuclear Power Plant Explosion Heightens Safety Fears; U.S., Europe World’s Apart on Climate Science Coverage; Solar thermal plants scrap steam for photovoltaic … PLUS: An Historical Perspective on the Energy and Climate-Change Debate …

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

• VIDEO: Fox & Friends Attacks Fuel Efficiency Standards As Not Letting “Consumers Have Free Choice” (MediaMatters.org)
• Auto Industy Cries Wolf, the Sequel [Original Title: Three Reasons Why the Auto Industry’s Fuel Economy Cost Claims are Wrong] (NRDC):
  [T]ime and time again, the auto industry storyline that the sky will fall whether its air bags, seatbelts, or catalytic converters has proven to be wrong. [In a plot twist, the one notable exception is GM which says it will “find a way” to achieve 56.2 mpg.]
• ExxonMobil’s Oil Spill Credibility Problem
• Exxon’s Pipeline Problem (MotherJones)
• Groundhog Day: An Oil Giant Spins A Spill (TIME):
  Credibility is a precious thing. Oil giant ExxonMobil did not have much to begin with, but it went even deeper into its scarce reserves in the past few days when a company pipeline spilled oil into a river that runs past the homes of about 6,500 people. Wednesday brought another blow: it turns out ExxonMobil needed almost an hour to fully seal the burst pipeline instead of the 30 minutes company president Gary Pruessing had initially said it took.
• Officials Detail Yellowstone Oil Spill Clean Up, Answer Public Questions (Billings Gazette)
• Yellowstone Oil Spill Fuels Opposition to Proposed U.S.-Canada Pipeline (Greenwire)
• Exxon Said Failed Mont. Pipeline Was Deeply Buried (AP)
• Feds Order ExxonMobil To Improve Safety at Ruptured Montana Pipeline
  (CNN)
• Montana Governor: Exxon Focused on Shareholder Liability After Oil Spill (Raw Story)
• EPA Yellowstone River update page (EPA)
• Ruptured Montana Pipeline Was Shut Down Before (NY Times)
• Montana Governor Seeks Additional Resources for Yellowstone River Oil Spill Cleanup (All Headline News)
• Montana Leak May Alter Exxon Safety Reviews (Reuters)
• Did ExxonMobil break its promise to stop funding climate deniers? [Umm…. yeah.] (Grist)
• Downwind & Insterstate: EPA’s NEW RULES for Coal-Fired Power Plant Pollution:
• EPA to Unveil New Rules For Cutting Smog From Coal Plants (SolveClimate.org):
  EPA this week will release its long-awaited new rule to protect downwind states from pollution emitted by coal-burning plants in upwind states.
• EPA tells coal-fired plants: Reduce pollution or shut down (Christian Science Monitor)
  The details of new EPA regulations, released Thursday, mandate reductions in power-plant emissions. ‘Old, decrepit plants’ without pollution controls must shut down, which some analysts say just accelerates the inevitable switchover from coal to natural gas.
  …
  Effects of the new rule will sweep across the eastern US, vastly reducing the amount of fine particulate matter that blows from power plant smokestacks in the Midwest toward the east coast, affecting over 240 million Americans along the way, EPA officials said.

  Annual benefits of $280 billion from the new regulations – much of it due to reduced health impacts – will easily outweigh the estimated $800 million annual cost of implementation and $1.6 billion per year in utility industry capital investments already under way, the agency reported.

• Tough New Clean-Air Rules Will Target Drifting Pollution (USA Today)
• After Long Battle, EPA to Unveil Rules for Cutting Smog from Coal Plants (Reuters)
• Spain Launches 24-Hour Solar Power, Even At Night:
  • Groundbreaking solar plant in Spain generates 24 hours of power (Grist)
• Attack of the Jellyfish — Swarm Shuts Down 2nd Plant in a Week:
• Attack of the Jellyfish: Sea Creatures Shut Down ANOTHER Power Station Amid Claims Surge is Due to Climate Change (Climate Progress)
• LAST CALL for the Space Shuttle: JFK, Obama & America’s Future
• Space Shuttle Atlantis launch will be iconic event, the last of its kind (Washington Post)
• Where to Watch the Last Space Shuttle Launch Online (PC World)
• WATCH: John F. Kennedy’s ‘Space Race’ Speech (YouTube)
• Transcript: John F. Kennedy’s Speech, “We Choose To Go To The Moon…”
• In Twitter Town Hall, President Repeatedly Emphasizes Clean Energy Future (Think Progress Green)

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

• Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline Is 20 Times Bigger Than Faulty Exxon Pipeline (Think Progress Green)
• U.S. Backs Project to Produce Fuel From Corn Waste (NY Times):
  The Energy Department plans to provide a $105 million loan guarantee for the expansion of an ethanol factory in Emmetsburg, Iowa, that intends to make motor fuel from corncobs, leaves and husks.
• Chinese oil spill half the size of London went unreported for a month (Guardian UK)
• Phosphate: A resource critical to feeding the world since the Green Revolution is now starting to run low (Yale 360)
• U.S. Could Drop Screening For Deadly Strain of E. Coli (Chicago Tribune):
  At a time of rising concern over pathogens in produce, Congress is moving to eliminate the only national program that regularly screens U.S. fruits and vegetables for the type of E. coli that recently caused a deadly outbreak in Germany.
  …
  The [GOP-controlled] House last month approved a bill that would end funding for the 10-year-old Microbiological Data Program, which tests about 15,000 annual samples of vulnerable produce such as sprouts, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cantaloupe and cilantro for pathogens including salmonella and E. coli.
• Drought in East Africa Prompts Calls to Address Humanitarian Emergency (Guardian UK):
  Aid agencies have launched multimillion-pound appeals to address a mounting humanitarian emergency in east Africa, where severe drought and high food prices have left 10 million people requiring assistance.
• Extreme weather link ‘can no longer be ignored’: Scientists to end 20-year reluctance with study into global warming and exceptional weather events (Telegraph UK)
• Salazar slams GOP push for deep conservation cuts (The Hill)
• Imported Fish With Banned Chemicals Reaching US Consumers (Fair Warning):
  Tons of imported fish laced with chemicals banned from the U.S. food supply, including carcinogens, are routinely showing up in this country and, state officials say, winding up on American dinner plates.
• White House Study Explains Why GOP Targets EPA (NPR):
  The Environmental Protection Agency has become a target of House Republicans and of GOP presidential hopefuls. They say its rules are job killers. A new White House report finds air pollution rules from the EPA cost far more than other government regulations. But they also result in far more benefits than other government mandates.
• E.P.A. Chief Stands Firm as Tough Rules Loom (NY Times)
• French Nuclear Power Plant Explosion Heightens Safety Fears (Guardian UK):
  An explosion sparked a fire at a French nuclear power station on Saturday, just two days after the authorities found 32 safety concerns at the plant.
• U.S., Europe World’s Apart on Climate Science Coverage (Midwest Energy News):
  When it comes to reporting on climate change, European media are from hothouse Venus, and their American counterparts are from considerably more frigid Mars. The divide between them may be having a profound impact on climate and energy policy in either part of the world.
• Solar thermal plants scrap steam for photovoltaic (CNET News):
  Developers of solar thermal power plants are scrapping plans to use steam technology in favor of ever-cheaper solar panels.
• In Twitter Town Hall, President Repeatedly Emphasizes Clean Energy Future (Think Progress Green)
• An Historical Perspective on the Energy and Climate-Change Debate (Climate Solutions):
  Current climate and energy policy debates in the United States rarely involve historians. If you search the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2007 synthesis report, you will not find the words history or historical. Even so, history pervades climate and energy policy discussions. History guides policy choices, inspires proposals for action, and structures institutional development.