‘Green News Report’ – May 10, 2012

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: The deepest well ever dug; Cyber-attacks on the US natgas pipeline industry; Romney makes big promises to Big Oil; RFK Jr. fights Big Coal in Portland; Schizo Fox ‘News’ now says lower gas prices are a bad thing; PLUS: It’s official: the last 12 months were the hottest on record in the US …. All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Oil spill in Antarctica; VT poised to be first state to outlaw fracking; CBO: Boosting Oil Production Won’t Protect From Gasoline Price Shocks; Clean-Energy Requirements Targeted by ALEC, Norquist; Innovation: Inertial Seawave Energy Generator; Asian carp electric barrier loses power; Makers of flame retardants manipulate research findings; Anti-Wind Group Colludes on Fake Grassroots ‘Subversion’ Campaign … PLUS: Flipping the Switch: First Solar Plant on Public Lands Now Delivering Power… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• VIDEO: Rachel Maddow on NEW Deep Sea Oil Drilling: (MSNBC)



• Schizophrenic Fox News Now Says Lower Gas Prices Are Now a BAD Thing:
• VIDEO: Fox Now Asking: Is The Drop In Gas Prices A Bad Thing? (Media Matters)
• VIDEO: Fox Business News: Falling Gas Prices A Bad Thing? (Media Matters)
• GOP: ‘You Think We’re Going To Have A Press Conference Now To Congratulate The Administration For Decreasing Gas Prices?’ (Climate Progress)
• Cyberattack on US Natural Gas Pipeline Industry:
• Alert: Major cyber attack aimed at natural gas pipeline companies (CS Monitor):
  A major cyber attack is currently under way aimed squarely at computer networks belonging to US natural gas pipeline companies, according to alerts issued by the US Department of Homeland Security.
• U.S. warns of cyberattacks on gas pipeline companies (CNET):
  The Department of Homeland Security wants the gas sector to monitor malware planted via cyberattacks as part of an investigation.
• Threat of Power-Grid Cyber Attack Seen Leaving Millions in Dark for Months (Bloomberg News):
  Electric utilities fail to recognize the risk because, unlike banks and telecommunications companies, they aren’t prime targets for Internet theft or espionage, said James Lewis, technology program director at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington. Yet “if there was a cyber attack, the electrical grid would be target number one” for terrorists, he said.
• Panetta: Environment Emerges as National Security Concern (American Forces Press Service)
• Transcript: Sec. Panetta Remarks at Environmental Defense Fund Reception
  As Delivered by Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta (Dept. of Defense)
• Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: ‘Climate Change Has A Dramatic Impact On National Security’ (Climate Progress)
• Mitt Romney Makes Big Promises to Big Oil:
• VIDEO: Mitt Romney in Colorado talking about energy and jobs (Denver Post)
• Mitt Romney calls Obama’s energy policies outdated at Weld County rally (Longmont, CO Times-Call)
• Defeated By Tea-Party, Sen. Lugar Warns: ‘Republicans Cannot Admit To Any Nuance In Policy On Climate Change’ (Climate Progress)
• Fighting Big Coal Export Terminals in Portland:
• VIDEO: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Calls Coal ‘Corrupting’ At Portland Rally (Huffington Post Green)
• Coal dependent: Pacific Northwest activists fight new export terminals (Grist)
• Why Fighting Coal Export Terminals Matters (Climate Progress):
  Moral of the story: The health of the U.S. coal industry hinges on its ability to increase exports to China and India.
• Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber calls for sweeping review of planned coal exports from Northwest ports (Oregon Live)
• The only good coal is coal left in the ground (David Roberts, Grist)
• How the U.S. could influence China’s coal habits — with exports (Washington Post)
• Rising Coal Exports Have Montana Rail Communities Braced for Worst (Daily Climate)
• Coal’s Future Is Rocky at Best (BusinessWeek):
  Coal is in a struggle with a perfect adversary: ultracheap natural gas.
• It’s Official: Past 12 Months the Hottest on Record in US:
• U.S. Experiences Warmest 12-Month Period On Record And Most Extreme January to April (Climate Progress)
• 12-month stretch ending in April is warmest on record, NOAA says (MSNBC)

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

• Special Report: Chesapeake Energy’s deepest well: Wall Street (Reuters):
  Far from the drilling rigs of Oklahoma, America’s second-largest natural gas producer is having to dig ever deeper into the well that really fueled its growth: Wall Street.
• Vermont poised to be first state to outlaw fracking (Reuters)
• CBO Report: Boosting Oil Production Won’t Protect Americans From Gasoline Price Shocks (Climate Progress)
• Around the world on solar rays (and Kiwi ingenuity) (New Zealand Herald):
  Auckland-based LOMOcean Design has thrust into the forefront of the global clean energy movement with the innovative design that enabled the MS Turanor PlanetSolar to be the first vehicle to complete a circumnavigation without using wind or fossil fuels.

  The catamaran finished the 60,019km journey in Monaco last week after 584 days of travel.

• Clean-Energy Requirements Targeted by ALEC, Norquist (Bloomberg News):
  Small-government groups including the American Legislative Exchange Council, whose advocacy for Florida’s Stand-Your-Ground law and other measures have drawn calls to revoke its tax-exempt status, are taking aim at state mandates requiring renewable energy use.
• The Inertial Seawave Energy Generator Rocks (Treehugger)
• A Cloudy Day for Climate Skeptics: Mainstream Research Discredits Lindzen Theory of Low Climate Sensitivity (Climate Progress)
• Barrier Broken? Asian carp electric barrier loses juice and exposes folly of the faux fence (NRDC Switchboard):
  That’s the problem with an electric fence; the electricity…[W]e see outages during the violent storms that have become more commonplace in recent years. The Corps needs to get serious about the hard work of figuring out how to install a permanent physical barrier into the system that addresses legitimate commercial concerns while finally stopping the movement of all invasive species between the Mississippi River system and Great Lakes; not just the big, bad Asian carp.
• Flipping the Switch: First Solar Plant on Public Lands Now Delivering Power: (SF Gate):
  The first commercial solar array approved and built on federal public land began producing electricity Monday from a sun-baked site in the Mojave Desert south of Las Vegas near the Nevada-California state line.
• Is Natural Gas Just as Polluting as Coal? (Pacific Standard Magazine):
  Researchers find that harmful methane leaks into the air at twice the amounts estimated by the EPA.
• Distorting science: Makers of flame retardants manipulate research findings to back their products, downplay health risks (Chicago Tribune):
  Manufacturers of flame retardants would repeatedly point to this government study as key proof that these toxic chemicals — embedded in many common household items — prevented residential fires and saved lives. But the study’s lead author, Vytenis Babrauskas, told the Tribune that industry officials have “grossly distorted” the findings of his research, which was not based on real-world conditions. The small amounts of flame retardants in typical home furnishings, he said, offer little to no fire protection.

  “Industry has used this study in ways that are improper and untruthful,” he said.

• Antarctica Oil Spill: Endless Sea, Wrecked Brazilian Ship, Leaking And Trapped In Ice (Huffington Post Green):
  A wrecked Brazilian ship is trapped in ice and spilling fuel in Antarctica, with no hopes of containing the damage until the long South Pole winter eases next October.
• Memo: Group Wants To Create Fake Grassroots ‘Subversion’ Campaign To Kill Wind (Climate Progress)
• Anti-Wind Strategy Memo Envisions News Corp. Ally (Media Matters):
  A confidential memo distributed at the meeting outlined a PR strategy that would, among other things, use media outlets including Fox News and the Wall Street Journal to disseminate anti-wind messaging. The goal of the media campaign is to provide “cover” for elected officials to vote against wind power.
• 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.”
• The Worst Yet to Come? Why Nuclear Experts Are Calling Fukushima a Ticking Time-Bomb (Brad Jacobson, Alternet):
  Experts say acknowledging the threat would call into question the safety of dozens of identically designed nuclear power plants in the U.S.
• 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.
• Warm Ocean Currents Eroding Antarctic Ice Shelves (Environment News Service):
  Warm ocean currents flowing beneath ice shelves are the main cause of recent ice loss from Antarctica, concludes a study by an international research team published today. The finding brings scientists closer to providing reliable projections of future sea level rise. Using measurements from NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite, ICESat, in combination with computer models, the researchers were able to distinguish between warm ocean currents thawing the ice sheets from below and warm air melting them from above.

• 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.“