‘Green News Report’ – January 26, 2012

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Drill-Baby-Drill and Frack-Baby-Frack: Obama talks energy in his State of the Union address — featuring actual clean energy! — while climate denier Republicans double down on dirty energy; PLUS: Speaking the forbidden words — out loud! … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Conoco profits jump 66%; 5 energy issues to watch for in tonight’s GOP debate in FL; WH pressured scientists to underestimate BP spill; State Dept: Don’t mess with us on Keystone; CO2 is “driving fish crazy”; NHTSA: ‘Chevy Volt is safe’; Judge blocks health studies from mine permit; NASA animation charts modern global warming … PLUS: Raiding the bread basket: use and abuse of the Mississippi River basin … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Obama pushes natural gas on swing-state tour (The Hill’s E2 Wire) [emphasis added]:
  “We have got to have an all-out, all-in, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every source of American energy. A strategy that is cleaner and cheaper and full of new jobs,” Obama said.

  “A great place to start is with natural gas,” he said in echoing the GOP call for an “all of the above” energy strategy.

• Capitol Kabuki Theatre: State of the Union:
• VIDEO: The 2011 State of the Union Address (White House YouTube channel)
• TRANSCRIPT: Remarks by the President in State of Union Address, January 25, 2011 (White House.gov)
• POLL: 91% of Voters Approved Of Obama’s Proposals in SOTU (CBS News)
• Oil and Gas Jobs Increased by 75,000 Under Obama – 69,000 More Than Would Be Created By Keystone XL (Climate Progress)
• GOP counters Obama on drilling (The Hill’s E2Wire):
  Republicans hope to prevent President Obama from gaining political traction with his State of the Union defense of his record on oil-and-gas drilling.
• White House Releases More Details of Obama Energy Plan After State of the Union (Climate Progress)
• President Obama’s Energy Plan Panned by Both Sides (USA Today)
• Why Obama Energy Blueprint Has Republicans Fuming After State of the Union (Christian Science Monitor)
• Lobbying Disclosures Reveal Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels Used State Dollars To Lobby For Keystone XL Pipeline (Think Progress Green)
• Obama makes strong call for clean energy — oh, and drilling and fracking too (Grist)
• SOTU 2012: Analysis and More:
• State Of The Union: President Obama Blames Congress For Inaction On Climate Change, While Calling For Increase In Fossil Fuel Production (Think Progress Green)
• Energy Dept. Slashes Gas Reserves Estimate for Marcellus Shale (Charleston Gazette):
  Federal government analysts on Monday slashed their estimate of the natural gas reserves in the Marcellus Shale formation, and at least one major producer announced plans to cut in half its expenditures on new gas leases in the wake of dropping prices.
• White House details $5 billion in clean-energy manufacturing tax credits (The Hill’s E2Wire)
• Obama, in speech, touts natural gas while pledging ‘fracking’ rules (The Hill)
• Natural Gas Falls to 10-Year Low as Mild Weather Boosts Surplus (Bloomberg News)
• Obama’s offshore drilling pledge restates existing plan (The Hill)
• Lobbying Of Keystone XL Backers Dwarfed Opponents During Debate At End Of 2011 (Think Progress Green)
• Bottlenecks of Utility Scale Renewable Energy (Triple Pundit)
• The Green Side of the State of the Union: Obama Wants to Have His Cake and Eat it Too (Triple Pundit)
• Time for a Massive U.S. Investment in Energy Efficiency (Climate Progress)
• Did The White House Mean To Call Uranium, Natural Gas, And Coal ‘Renewable Energy?’ (Think Progress Green)
• Energy efficiency: Still awesome, still ignored (Grist)
• Government Investment in Renewable Energy Nearly as Popular With Swing Voters as Death of Osama bin Laden (Climate Progress)
• Clean energy is a wedge issue that favors Democrats (David Roberts, Grist)
• The U.S. military’s historic embrace of smart energy (David Roberts, Grist & Pew Environment Group)
• The GOP SOTU Response: An Alternate Reality:
• VIDEO: SOTU: GOP Response (ABC News)
• Transcript: Daniels gives GOP response to State of the Union (CNN)
• Mitch Daniels: Coal Regulations Have No Effect On ‘Human Health Or World Temperature’ (Think Progress Green):
  It isn’t a surprise that Daniels — a long-time climate-denier and friend of oil and gas — boldly claimed coal regulations have no effect on public health, when new mercury pollution controls will prevent 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks, and 130,000 asthma attacks annually. His jobs estimate for Keystone XL has also been debunked by multiple studies, instead coming closer to 5,000 temporary jobs.

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

• ConocoPhillips Profits Jump 66 Percent, Earning $12.4 Billion In 2011 (Think Progress Green)
• 5 Energy and Climate Issues to Watch for in Tonight’s GOP Debate in Florida (Think Progress Green)
• Report: White House Pressured Scientists to Underestimate BP Spill Size (Mother Jones)
• State Department tells Republicans: Don’t mess with us on Keystone (The Hill’s E2 Wire)
• CO2 Is “Driving Fish Crazy” and Threatening Their Survival, Study Finds (Climate Progress)
• Obama official adamant Chevy Volt is safe (The Hill’s E2 Wire)
• NRC Report Calls for New Nano Safety Research Strategy (Science):
  Despite billions of dollars spent on nanotechnology research and development over the past decade, the human and environmental safety of nanomaterials remains unclear. As a result, a new nanomaterials safety research strategy is needed, and new governmental oversight is required to ensure the essential research is carried out, according to a report released [Wednesday] by the National Research Council (NRC).
• Judge Blocks Health Studies From Mine Permit (Charleston Gazetter):
  A federal judge has sided with Alpha Natural Resources in the company’s effort to keep testimony about West Virginia University studies linking mountaintop removal to birth defects and cancer among coalfield residents out of a legal challenge to one of Alpha’s new mining permits.
• China report spells out “grim” climate change risks (Reuters):
  Global warming threatens China’s march to prosperity by cutting crops, shrinking rivers and unleashing more droughts and floods, says the government’s latest assessment of climate change, projecting big shifts in how the nation feeds itself.
• CA Air Board to Vote on Landmark Electric Car Rules (San Jose Mercury News):
  In a move that could reshape the American automobile industry, California regulators Thursday are expected to approve sweeping new rules requiring that 15 percent of new cars sold in California by 2025 run on electricity, hydrogen or other systems producing little or no smog.
• Study: ‘Restored’ Wetlands Don’t Measure Up (Mother Jones)
• Raiding the Bread Basket: Use and Abuse of the Mississippi River Basin: (Nat Geo News):
  Industrial agricultural has significant socioeconomic and environmental costs, although scientists are bringing solutions.
• VIDEO: Animation Charts Modern Global Warming (NYT Green)

• VIDEO ANIMATION: Time history of atmospheric CO2 (NOAA Carbon Tracker YouTube channel):
• Skeptical Science: Get the FULL DEBUNKING of All Climate Science Denier Arguments
• Part 1: The brutal logic of climate change (David Roberts, Grist) [emphasis added]:
  It’s simple: If there is to be any hope of avoiding civilization-threatening climate disruption, the U.S. and other nations must act immediately and aggressively on an unprecedented scale. That means moving to emergency footing. War footing. “Hitler is on the march and our survival is at stake” footing. That simply won’t be possible unless a critical mass of people are on board. It’s not the kind of thing you can sneak in incrementally.

  It is unpleasant to talk like this. People don’t want to hear it.

• Part 2: The brutal logic of climate change mitigation (David Roberts, Grist)
• World headed for irreversible climate change in five years, IEA warns: If fossil fuel infrastructure is not rapidly changed, the world will ‘lose for ever’ the chance to avoid dangerous climate change (Guardian UK) [emphasis added]:
  The world is likely to build so many fossil-fuelled power stations, energy-guzzling factories and inefficient buildings in the next five years that it will become impossible to hold global warming to safe levels, and the last chance of combating dangerous climate change will be “lost for ever”, according to the most thorough analysis yet of world energy infrastructure.
  …
  “The door is closing,” Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, said. “I am very worried – if we don’t change direction now on how we use energy, we will end up beyond what scientists tell us is the minimum [for safety]. The door will be closed forever.”
• Concise Overview: The IPCC report on extreme climate and weather events (Real Climate)
• READ the IPCC Report: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
• The Real Global Warming Signal (Tamino)
• No, global warming hasn’t stopped (New Scientist)
• Top UN Climate Official Blasts U.S. Climate Policy: Americans Must Realize “This Is Their Future They’re Compromising” (Think Progress Green)
• VIDEO: Climate Scientists Michael Mann on “A Look Into Our Climate: Past To Present To Future” (TEDx, YouTube)
• Earth’s Plant Growth Fell Because of Climate Change, Study Finds (NYT Green)
• Heads in the Sand: Warning: “Climate change is occurring … and poses significant risks to humans and the environment,” reports the National Academy of Sciences. As climate-change science moves in one direction, Republicans in Congress are moving in another. Why?
  (National Journal) [emphasis added]:
  Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, says there’s no question that the influence of his group and others like it has been instrumental in the rise of Republican candidates who question or deny climate science. “If you look at where the situation was three years ago and where it is today, there’s been a dramatic turnaround. Most of these candidates have figured out that the science has become political,” he said.
  …
  Groups like Americans for Prosperity have done it.“