‘Green News Report’ – May 3, 2012

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: It’s WAR!; New rules on fracking to protect drinking water — same old objections from Republicans; The state’s rights versus federal regulations canard; UK: Climate protesters clash with police; Smoke-bomb dropped on French nuke plant; PLUS: Connecting the Dots: Blocking Warren Buffet’s coal trains on 5/5… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Environmental group sues to halt killing practices of federal wildlife agency; Court Urged to Order Decision on Nuclear Waste Site; Dept. Of Energy Investigating Harvesting Energy From Methane Hydrates; Pollution from Pavement Sealers?; Rising Coal Exports Have Montana Rail Communities Braced for Worst; AEI& Brookings Must-Read: ‘The Republicans Are The Problem’… PLUS: Plant Study Flags Dangers Of Warming World … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• VIDEO: No Higher Power Than Exxon (The Rachel Maddow Show):


• FRACKING: Interior Dept. To Issue New Rules For Frackers:
• Industry official: Interior to release ‘fracking’ rules by Friday (The Hill’s E2 Wire):
  The proposal would regulate the oil-and-gas development method known as fracking, in which water, chemicals and sand are injected at high pressure into rock formations to open up seams that enable trapped oil and natural gas to flow.

  The rules are expected to include the required disclosure of chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process, along with regulations on well integrity and wastewater management.

• Gas industry presses White House on ‘fracking’ rules (The Hill’s E2 Wire)
• VIDEO: Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) Bashes Fracking Regulations (Media Matters)
• Drillers May Frack First, Disclose Later Under Draft Plan (Bloomberg):
  Natural-gas companies drilling on U.S. land would be permitted to wait until after hydraulic fracturing is completed to disclose what chemicals they used, under a draft rule being considered by the Interior Department.
• Fracking Sand Threatens Gas Well Workers, Researcher Says (BusinessWeek):
  Sand dust created from the hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from rock is one of the most dangerous threats to workers at wells blossoming across the U.S., a government safety researcher said.
• CO: House Field Hearing On Federal Fracking Regulations:
• Fracking the Focus of Congressional Hearing at Colorado Capitol [Updated] (KUNC, Univ. of Northern Colorado)
• Congressional hearing in Denver tackles fracking (AP) [emphasis added]:
  “Do Coloradans react differently to water pollution?” asked a skeptical Rep. Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat who attended the field hearing and questioned the state officials who argued against national safety regulation. After Clarke testified that Utah saw no water contamination in 50 years, Holt said that perhaps that was because the state wasn’t looking.
  …
  The question of who sets drilling rules is especially prickly in Colorado. Later in the day, many of the witnesses who appeared before the congressional panel testified at a state legislative panel where the chairman has proposed punishing local governments that seek to rein in drilling.
• Independent Analysis Confirms That Hydraulic Fracturing Caused Drinking Water Contamination In Wyoming (Climate Progress):
  In December 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency found official evidence that poisonous chemicals from fracking had contaminated water near drill rigs in Pavillion, Wyoming. That study has now been backed up by an independent expert. ,
• Fracking dominates the debate at Capitol: Federal vs. state oversight focus of hearing in Denver (Durango Herald)
• Congressional subcommittee urged not to duplicate state frac regulations (Oil & Gas Journal)
• Fracking Fluid Can Migrate Into Aquifers: Study
• New Study Predicts Frack Fluids Can Migrate to Aquifers Within Years (Pro Publica):
  A new study has raised fresh concerns about the safety of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, concluding that fracking chemicals injected into the ground could migrate toward drinking water supplies far more quickly than experts have previously predicted.
• UK: Climate Activists Clash With UK Police at Big 6 Energy Summit:
• VIDEO: Police and protesters clash at energy summit – video (Guardian UK):
  Environmental protesters from the Climate Justice Collective attempt to force their way into the UK Energy Summit taking place in London. Police were injured and protesters claim two people were knocked unconscious after being hit on the head by batons in the clashes near St Paul’s
• Energy conference protesters accuse police of heavy-handed tactics: Protesters say ‘wildly disproportionate’ response at Big Six Energy Bash led to injuries among participants (Guardian UK)
• Two arrested as protesters target energy conference: Two people have been arrested as protesters tried to break their way into a five-star hotel where an energy industry summit was taking place. (Telegraph UK)
• France: Greenpeace ‘Smoke-Bombs’ French Nuke Plant:
• VIDEO: French activist drops a smoke bomb on nuclear plant (CBS News)
• Aerial Greenpeace protester strikes at French nuclear site, dropping smoke bomb on reactor (AP)
• CANADA: Hansen To Block Buffet’s Coal Trains:
• Climate Activists Tell Warren Buffett Why They Are Blocking His Coal Trains, Via James Hansen (Climate Progress)
• Protest Against Northwest Coal Export (Earth Justice)
• Fighting coal export terminals: It matters (Grist):
  Moral of the story: The health of the U.S. coal industry hinges on its ability to increase exports to China and India.
• Coal business update: ‘Severe weakness’ cited in U.S. markets (Coal Tattoo)
• Coal’s Future Is Rocky at Best (BusinessWeek):
  Coal is in a struggle with a perfect adversary: ultracheap natural gas.
• VIDEO: James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change (TED Talks):
  Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about the future.
• 5/5/2012: CONNECT THE DOTS International Day of Climate Action:: TAKE ACTION

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

• EXCLUSIVE: Environmental group sues to halt killing practices of federal wildlife agency (Sacramento Bee):
  The federal government’s wildlife damage control program is based on outdated science and indiscriminate tools that kill many non-target animals, including protected species, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by WildEarth Guardians, a Colorado-based environmental group.
• YUCCA MTN: Court Urged to Order Decision on Nuclear Waste Site (NY Times):
  Two states with large amounts of military and civilian nuclear waste told a federal court panel on Wednesday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was flouting the law by declining to decide whether the Nevada desert is a suitable burial spot – even if the Obama administration says the storage plan is dead.
• Dept. Of Energy Invesgating Harvesting Energy From Methane Hydrates: (Reuters):
  The Energy Department on Wednesday announced a breakthrough in research into tapping a possibly vast fuel resource that could eventually bolster already massive natural gas reserves.
• Lights Out for Research Satellites? (NY Times):
  Earth-observing systems operated by the United States have entered a steep decline, imperiling the nation’s monitoring of weather, natural disasters and climate change, a report from the National Research Council warned on Wednesday.
• Studies Raise Questions About Pavement Sealers (Environmental Health News):
  Airborne emissions and stray dust from coal tar–based sealers, one of the two main types of products used to coat certain asphalt pavements, may be a more significant human health threat than previously thought, according to three new studies and a review published by U.S. government and university researchers.
• EPA Moves To Regulate Logging-Road Runoff as Supreme Court Eyes Case (Greenwire):
  At issue, EPA said, is a controversial 2010 ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that tossed out the agency’s 35-year-old policy of allowing loggers to use best management practices instead of pollution-discharge permits. Trying to soothe its critics, EPA said in a statement that it is considering “flexible” options — including some that would require no permit — in recognition of some land-management practices in use to minimize the water pollution from forest roads.
• Midwest Generation To Close 2 Chicago Coal Plants Early (Chicago Tribune):
  Chicago is the only major U.S. city with coal plants operating within its borders. For years, environmental and community groups have blamed Fisk and Crawford for high asthma rates and other health problems in their predominantly Latino, low-income neighborhoods. A 2010 report by the National Research Council estimated that pollution from the coal plants costs surrounding areas $127 million a year in hidden health costs.
• Rising Coal Exports Have Montana Rail Communities Braced for Worst (Daily Climate)
• American Enterprise Institute And Brookings Must-Read: ‘The Republicans Are The Problem’ (Climate Progress):
  Two leading political scholars – representing the conservative American Enterprise Institute and the centrist Brookings Institution – have published a must-read article, “Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.”
• Plant Study Flags Dangers Of Warming World (Reuters):
  “Increased carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels can affect how plants produce oxygen, while higher temperatures and variable rainfall patterns can change their behavior.
• Well, MEOW: VIDEO: T. Boone Pickens: ‘The Biggest Deterrent To An Energy Plan In America Is Koch Industries’ (Climate Progress):
  The biggest deterrent to an energy plan in America is Koch Industries,” the BP Capital founder tells Yahoo’s Aaron Task. “They do not want an energy plan for America because they have the cheapest natural gas price they’ve ever had, and they’re in the fertilizer business and they’re in the chemical business. So their margins are huge. And they do not want you to have an energy plan, because if you had a plan, then natural gas prices would come up.
• US solar subsidies consistent with coal, oil: report (Reuters):
  U.S. government support for solar energy is no different from its support for traditional energy sources, despite critics’ complaints that the renewable energy source has gotten special incentives, a new solar-industry backed report found.
• Analysis: Dow’s new GMO corn: “time bomb” or farmers’ dream? (Reuters):
  Opponents include some specialty crop farmers who fear 2,4-D herbicide use could cause widespread damage to crops that are not engineered with a tolerance to it. It is so potent that its use is tightly restricted in some areas and at certain times of the year in some U.S. states.
• Nuclear Safety Advocates Accuse Industry And Regulators Of Foot-Dragging On Basic Safety Measures (Huffington Post Green):
  [W]hat if the Pilgrim plant experienced a meltdown like the one that unfolded just over a year ago in Fukushima, Japan?

  “I live just six miles from that plant across open water,” says Lampert, a staunch advocate for tougher oversight of the nuclear power industry. “It always comes down to public safety versus the cost to industry of implementing something.”

• Climate Change Has Intensified the Global Water Cycle (Climate Central):
  Based on measurements gathered around the world from 1950-2000, a team of researchers from Australia and the U.S. has concluded that the hydrologic cycle is indeed changing. Wet areas are getting wetter and dry areas are getting drier. But it’s happening about twice as fast as anyone thought, and that could mean big trouble for places like Australia, which has already been experiencing crushing drought in recent years.

• Skeptical Science: Get the FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Arguments
• VIDEO: James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change (TED Talks):
  Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about the future.
• VIDEO ANIMATION: Time history of atmospheric CO2 (NOAA Carbon Tracker YouTube channel):
• VIDEO: Animation Charts Modern Global Warming (NYT Green)
• Must-Read: Economist William Nordhaus Slams Global Warming Deniers, Explains Cost of Delay is $4 Trillion (Climate Progress):
  Nordhaus’s blunt piece – “Why the Global Warming Skeptics Are Wrong” – is worth reading because he is no climate hawk.
  …
  “The skeptics’ summary is based on poor analysis and on an incorrect reading of the results.”
• 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)
• How to Buy Time in the Fight against Climate Change: Mobilize to Stop Soot and Methane: A short list of relatively simple actions taken to reduce greenhouse gases other than CO2 could help put the brakes on global warming–if implemented globally (Scientific American)
• Climate Scientists Rebuke Rupert Murdoch: WSJ Denier Op-Ed Like ‘Dentists Practicing Cardiology’ (Think Progress Green)
• Saudi Oil Minister Calls Global Warming “Humanity’s Most Pressing Concern” (Climate Progress):
  “We know that pumping oil out of the ground does not create many jobs. It does not foster an entrepreneurial spirit, nor does it sharpen critical faculties.”
• VIDEO: Behold: The World’s First 24/7 Solar Plant is Up and Running (Treehugger)
• 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.“