‘Green News Report’ – October 6, 2011

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Coal is a drag on the economy; Coast Guard said ‘NO!’, but Arctic drilling a ‘GO’ anyway; Surprise! Koch Industries lied about profiting from Keystone XL Pipeline; PLUS: Occupy Wall St. protesters rally to save the future with action on clean energy & climate change … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Floods drown Asia’s rice bowl; AZ utility sued over Four Corners pollution; Stepping up construction of new power lines; Doctors: NY should weigh health risks of fracking; Salazar: ‘Fracking’ can be safe and responsible; IEA warns of ballooning world fossil fuel subsidies; Mussels, nutrients damaging Great Lakes; Supreme Court ends Bush-era grazing regulations; Florida’s invasive species problem worst in the world; Solar Leaf: while Tea Party slimes energy progress, innovators build the future; Climate change and the end of Australia …PLUS: Attack of the armadillos?: roving bands of “fairly destructive” armadillos may march on DC thanks to climate change …

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

• Coal is a Drag on the Economy – Every $1 of coal power causes $2 in damages:
• Coal is the enemy of the human race, mainstream economics edition (David Roberts, Grist):
  [S]pread this around. Coal’s net economic effects on the U.S. are poorly understood, to say the least, and this paper’s findings are stunning.

  Once you strip away the econ jargon, the paper finds that electricity from coal imposes more damages on the U.S. economy than the electricity is worth. That’s right: Coal-fired power is a net value-subtracting industry. A parasite, you might say. A gigantic, blood-sucking parasite that’s enriching a few executives and shareholders at the public’s expense.

• Study finds coal costly to U.S. economy (Charlottesville Gazette):
  Air pollution from coal-fired power plants costs the U.S. more in health damage than those plants contribute to the American economy, according to a new study in a respected economics journal.

  Coal plants produce the largest “gross external damages” — $53 billion annually — of any of the industries examined in the new study published in the latest issue of The American Economic Review.

• Economists: Coal Is Incredibly Costly (Think Progress Green):
  Solid waste combustion, sewage treatment, stone quarrying, marinas, and oil and coal-fired power plants have air pollution damages larger than their value added. . .

  Coal plants are responsible for more than one-fourth of GED [gross external damages] from the entire US economy.

• Counting up the costs of coal (Coal Tattoo)
• PEAK COAL Coming to Central Appalachia:
• Appalachia faces steep coal decline (Dylan Lovan, AP):
  Coal here is getting harder and costlier to dig — and the region, which includes Southern West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, is headed for a huge collapse in coal production.
  …
  Arch Coal, the nation’s second-largest coal producer, told investors last year that the region’s coal “is in secular decline — faced with depleting reserves and significant regulatory hurdles.”
• The Coming Decline and Fall of Big Coal (Rolling Stone) [emphasis added]:
  [I]f you think about this story seriously for more than 30 seconds, you will come to see that it has huge implications not only for future U.S. energy policy but also for the coming presidential election.
• Is it too late for Central Appalachia to prepare for the coming collapse of the coal industry? (Coal Tattoo)
• DOE: Early declines in coal production are more than offset by growth after 2014 (Dept. of Energy Annual Energy Outlook 2011):
  Appalachian coal production declines substantially from current levels, as coal produced from the extensively mined, higher cost reserves of Central Appalachia is supplanted by lower cost coal from other supply regions. Increasing production in the northern part of the basin, however, does help to moderate the overall production decline in Appalachia.
• Consensus Coal Production Forecast [pdf] (West Virginia University Bureau of Business and Economic Research)
• The Decline of Central Appalachian Coal and the Need for Economic Diversification [pdf] (Downstream Strategies)
• Ultra pro-business State Journal declares in editorial that it’s time for W.Va. to ‘look beyond coal’ (Coal Tattoo)
• Coal lobby’s Hamilton refuses to face the numbers (Coal Tattoo)
• Arctic Drilling Gets the Go-Ahead:
• Obama Administration Approves Arctic Ocean Drilling (Wall St. Journal):
  The Obama administration said Monday it was moving forward with oil-drilling leases off the coast of Alaska issued by the Bush administration in 2008, a victory for oil companies in the battle over Arctic Ocean drilling.
• Chukchi Sea Lease Sale Back in Court; Federal Agency Says Environmental Work Was Complete (AP)
• When It Comes To Arctic Oil Drilling, All Geopolitics Are Local (Foreign Policy)
• US Government Breaks the Ice in Arctic Drilling Dispute (Hearst/Houston Chronicle)
• U.S. Regulators Promise Oversight Of Offshore Drilling Contractors (NPR)
• U.S. To Regulate Contractors of Offshore Oil Firms (Reuters)
• Surprise! Koch Industries Use ‘Subsidiary Dodge’, and WILL Profit from Keystone XL Pipeline After All:
• Koch Subsidiary Told Regulators It Has ‘Direct and Substantial Interest’ in Keystone XL (Inside Climate News):
  A document filed with Canada’s Energy Board appears to cast doubt on claims by Koch Industries that it has no interest in the controversial pipeline.

  In recent months Koch Industries Inc., the business conglomerate run by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, has repeatedly told a U.S. Congressional committee and the news media that the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline has “nothing to do with any of our businesses.”

  But the company has told Canadian energy regulators a different story …”a direct and substantial interest in the application” for the pipeline under consideration.

• Koch Subsidiary Told Regulators It Has ‘Direct and Substantial Interest’ in Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline (Climate Progress)
• New Keystone XL Emails Expose Corrupt Process (Think Progress Green)
• Keystone XL could be a terrorist target (Grist)
• The Secret Sins of Koch Industries: Koch Brothers Flout Law Getting Richer With Secret Iran Sales (Bloomberg) [emphasis added]:
  A Bloomberg Markets investigation has found that Koch Industries — in addition to being involved in improper payments to win business in Africa, India and the Middle East — has sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism.
• Conservation Groups Sue To Block Transcanada Pipeline (Bloomberg)
• Keystone Hearing in Nebraska Sandhills Draws Mostly Critics, and Passions Flare (Inside Climate News)
• German State Minister: We Can Decarbonize With Renewables Because “We Don’t Have the … Koch brothers” (Think Progress):
  “We don’t have the situation like you have in the U.S., where you have this Koch brothers,” Untersteller said, referring to the billionaire heirs of Koch Industries.
• Occupy Wall Street: Protesters Demand Action on Keystone Pipeline, Clean Energy & Climate Change:
• Climate Activists Stand With Occupy Wall Street Movement (Climate Progress)
• Youth Activists Plan Occupy State Dept. To Demand Obama Reject Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline (Think Progress Green)
• Why I’m Occupying Wall Street with the Green Movement Today (Treehugger)

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

• AZ Power Co. Sued Over Four Corners Pollution (AZ Republic):
  Obama Admin to Step Up Construction of New Power Lines In 12 States (AP):

  The Obama administration on Wednesday moved to speed up permitting and construction of seven proposed electric transmission lines in 12 states, saying the projects would create thousands of jobs and help modernize the nation’s power grid.
• Doctors Urge NY to Weigh Health Risks of Fracking (NYT Green):
  New York’s environmental study of the possible risks of high-volume hydraulic fracturing, a technique for natural gas drilling, addresses everything from the possible impact on job creation and the character of communities to damage to roads and wildlife. But a group of doctors, medical associations and environmental groups say there is one glaring omission: the possible effects on public health.
• VIDEO: Interior Secretary Salazar: ‘Fracking’ Can Be Safe and Responsible (Christian Science Monitor)
• IEA Warns of Ballooning World Fossil Fuel Subsidies Reuters):
  Global subsidies for fossil fuel consumption are set to reach $660 billion in 2020 unless reforms are passed to effectively eliminate this form of state aid, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.
• Report: Mussels, Nutrients Damage Great Lakes (AP):
  A one-two punch of excessive nutrients and ravenous mussels is causing a sharp drop-off in Great Lakes fish populations and the worst outbreak of algae blooms in decades, says a report released Tuesday.
• Floods Drown Asia’s Rice Bowl (AFP):
  Massive floods have ravaged vast swathes of Asia’s rice bowl, threatening to further drive up food prices and adding to the burden of farmers who are among the region’s poorest, experts say.
• U.S. Supreme Court Ends Bush-Era Grazing Regulations (Environment News Service):
  The U.S. Supreme Court [Monday] denied consideration of an appeal by the Public Lands Council of previous federal court decisions overturning Bureau of land Management grazing regulations promulgated during the George W. Bush administration. The decision affects over 160 million acres of public land in 11 western states.
• Florida’s Invasive Species Problem Worst in the World (Environment News Service):
  Florida has the world’s worst invasive amphibian and reptile problem, and a new 20-year study led by a University of Florida researcher verifies the pet trade as the top cause of the non-native species introduction into the state’s environment.
• Climate Change and the End of Australia (Rolling Stone):
  Want to know what global warming has in store for us? Just go to Australia, where rivers are drying up, reefs are dying, and fires and floods are ravaging the continent.
• VIDEO: Solar Leaf: While Tea Party Slimes Energy Progress, Innovators Build the Future (Climate Denial Crock of the Week)
• Attack of the Armadillos?: Roving Bands of “Fairly Destructive” Armadillos May March on DC Thanks to Climate Change (Climate Progress):
  The armadillo is moving north into areas never expected by biologists, who are also seeing climate-related migration of mice and other mammals in the Great Lakes region.