‘Green News Report’ – August 16, 2012

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Obama stumps for clean energy, while Romney promotes…coal; Wildfires rage across the West; Nuclear reactor in hot water; PLUS: Mutant butterflies in Japan. This may not end well… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): US CO2 emissions drop to 20-yr low (thanks to natural gas); KY to export coal to India; Rep. Ryan denies he lobbied for stimulus; Dallas to spray after West Nile virus deaths; Meet the new Ocean Health Index; Toilet Of The Future runs on sun … PLUS: GOP ‘Agenda 21’ conspiracy theory, now offially in GOP platform … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Wildfires Rage Across the West:
• VIDEO: Heartbreaking losses as Western wildfires rage (CNN)
• VIDEO: Wildfires roast western states (CNN)
• Wildfire on Utah military camp burns near thousands of unexploded shells (AP)
• Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Idaho residents tormented by wildfires (CS Monitor): [emphasis added]
  Jennifer Smith of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, said not only are more wildfires occurring in the West this year than last, but the nation’s fires have gotten bigger.

  As of Wednesday, 42,933 wildfires had been reported in the US this season, burning 6.4 million acres. The 10-year average for this period is 52,535 fires but covering only 5 million acres, she said.

• Firefighter Killed As Wildfires Rage Across West (NPR)
• Wildfire raging in Kittitas County (Seattle Times):
  A fast-moving wildfire driven by high winds was burning east of Cle Elum in Central Washington, reportedly destroying about 60 homes.
• Idaho towns pack up as massive wildfire nears (AP)
• Fire-prone areas: to build or not to build (Seattle Times):
  As more houses in Kittitas County are built in areas prone to wildfires, federal, state and local agencies have focused more on making the homes resistant to fire than on discouraging construction
• Record Heat, Record Drought: Low Mississippi River, Nuclear Reactor in Hot Water:
• Extreme Heat, Drought Show Vulnerability of Nuclear Power Plants (InsideClimate News)
• Mississippi River Reaches Historic Lows: ‘We Have 50-Year Guys Who’ve Never Seen Anything Like This Before’ (Climate Progress)
• Heat Shuts Down a Coastal Reactor (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
  A reactor at the Millstone nuclear plant in Waterford, Conn., has shut down because of something that its 1960s designers never anticipated: the water in Long Island Sound was too warm to cool it. Under the reactor’s safety rules, the cooling water can be no higher than 75 degrees. On Sunday afternoon, the water’s temperature soared to 76.7 degrees, prompting the operator, Dominion Power, to order the shutdown of the 880-megawatt reactor.
• U.S. Heartland Sees No End in Sight to Epic Drought (Climate Central)
• Drought crimps rise in Midwest farmland values (Reuters)
• Obama Highlights Clean Energy Jobs:
• VIDEO: President Obama Campaigns on Clean Energy In Iowa (C-SPAN, starting at 18:20)
• Obama Spars With Romney on Energy in Swing State Pitches (Renewable Energy World)
• Obama Alludes To Romney’s Dog Seamus In Renewable Energy Speech (Mediaite)
• Obama knocks Romney on renewable energy, tax shelter (Reuters)
• Obama Campaign Increases Pressure On Romney Over Wind Tax Credit (LA Times):
  “At a moment when homegrown energy, renewable energy, is creating new jobs in states like Colorado and Iowa, my opponent wants to end tax credits for wind energy producers. Think about what that would mean for a community like Pueblo,” Obama told a crowd of about 3,500 people at the Colorado State Fairgrounds. “The wind industry supports about 5,000 jobs across this state. Without those tax credits, 37,000 American jobs, including potentially hundreds of jobs right here in Pueblo, would be at risk.”
• In Wind, Obama Sees a Clean Energy Winner (GreenTech Media)
• Romney/Ryan Promote Coal, Criticize Wind:
• VIDEO: Romney Obama seeks to exploit GOP divide on renewable energy (CBS):
  The Romney campaign accuses Mr. Obama of favoring renewables at the expense of more proven energy sources — like coal, which produces 45 percent of the nation’s electricity. “We have 250 years of coal. Why the heck wouldn’t we use it?” Romney asked a crowd recently.
• What To Expect When You’re Electing: Representative Paul Ryan (DeSmogBlog):
• Do Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney Disagree on Climate Change? (Washington Post)
• Romney & Ryan’s Fossil Fuel Favoritism: Starve Clean Energy, but Feed Oil With Taxpayer Money (NRDC via Huffington Post Green)
• Meet Paul Ryan: Climate Denier, Conspiracy Theorist, Koch Acolyte (Climate Progress)
• Candidates split over extending tax credit for wind energy producers (Washington Post)
• While Calling Stimulus ‘Wasteful,’ Paul Ryan Secured Millions Of Dollars In Grants For Clean Energy (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
  According to documents obtained by the Boston Globe, Rep. Ryan (R-WI) lobbied the Department of Energy for tens of millions of dollars in stimulus grants for Wisconsin energy initiatives at least four times – even while calling the stimulus a “wasteful spending spree.”
• US Coal-Power Declines Due to Cheap Natural Gas:
• Coal companies shares fall on low gas prices (AP):
  Shares of some coal companies fell Wednesday as a drop in the price of natural gas futures heightened the competition between the two energy sectors for customers.
• AP IMPACT: CO2 emissions in US drop to 20-year low (AP):
  In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal.
• CBO: Eliminating Oil Subsidies Better for Deficit Reduction:
• CBO Report: GOP Drilling Plan Will Generate Far Less Revenue Than Repealing Oil Tax Breaks (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
  Proposals from GOP lawmakers to open nearly all federal lands and waters to oil-and-gas development would not generate much additional revenue, according to the Congressional Budget Office. CBO released an analysis on Thursday that said opening protected areas would generate a mere fraction of the revenue from existing oil-and-gas activity on federal land.
• Mutant Butterflies in Japan:
• Fukushima ’caused mutant butterflies’ (AFP) [emphasis added]:
  Genetic mutations have been found in three generations of butterflies from near Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, scientists said Tuesday, raising fears radiation could affect other species.
  …
  There are claims that the effects of nuclear exposure have been observed on successive generations of descendants of people living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the US dropped atomic bombs in the final days of World War II.

  But Otaki warned it was too soon to jump to conclusions, saying his team’s results on the Fukushima butterflies could not be directly applied to other species, including humans.

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

• AP IMPACT: CO2 emissions in US drop to 20-year low (Business Week):
  In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal.
• KY coal producers to supply 9 million tons annually to India in 25-year, $7 billion deal (Louisville Courier-Journal):
  Kentucky coal producers have reached an agreement to export 9 million tons of coal annually to India for the next 25 years in a $7 billion deal that is a boost to the region’s sagging mining industry.
• After Documents Show Paul Ryan Secured $20 Million In Stimulus Grants, He Claims ‘I Never Asked For Stimulus’ (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
  On Tuesday, the Boston Globe and Associated Press reported on documents showing that GOP Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan had secured more than $20 million in stimulus funds for a local energy efficiency organization… His requests came at the same time he was publicly calling the stimulus a “wasteful spending spree.” However, in an interview with a local Ohio television news station, Ryan claimed he never secured funding through the program, saying “I never asked for stimulus.”
• Dallas In State of Emergency After West Nile Virus (BBC News)
• Introducing the Ocean Health Index (NYT Green):
  In a potential milestone for ocean management, a team of collaborators has produced the first Ocean Health Index, a tool for appraising the state of the world’s oceans. The index takes into account the major factors that influence the quality of regional marine ecosystems like fisheries, biodiversity, tourism and carbon storage and then assigns a score from zero to 100 for each place.
• Toilet of the future? Runs on sun. Wins prize. (CS Monitor):
  Toilet of the future wins $100,000 from Gates Foundation for solar-powered unit that recycles water and turns waste into energy. Foundation will spend $3.4 million on its ‘toilet of the future’ initiative.
• Republican Party Officially Embraces ‘Garbage’ Agenda 21 Conspiracy Theories As Its National Platform (Climate Progress):
  Agenda 21 is a completely non-binding international framework for sustainability passed in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit. The framework, which sets out very loose aspirational goals for making communities more efficient and less carbon-intensive, was signed by then President George H.W. Bush and later upheld by Presidents Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush.
  …
  In fact, the Agenda 21 language explicitly states that countries and local communities have “the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental and developmental policies.”
• Climate models that predict more droughts win further scientific support (Washington Post):
  The United States will suffer a series of severe droughts in the next two decades, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Moreover, global warming will play an increasingly important role in their abundance and severity, claims Aiguo Dai, the study’s author.
• Mutant Butterflies: ‘Severe abnormalities’ found in Fukushima butterflies (BBC):
  Exposure to radioactive material released into the environment has caused mutations in butterflies found in Japan, a study suggests.
• Methane’s profile on the rise as gas raises global warming worries (NJ Star-Ledger):
  Yet methane hasn’t gotten anywhere near the same attention as carbon dioxide from governments and businesses aiming to stop climate change without hindering economies. That is changing now as methane makes headlines because of new numbers showing more leakage than previously thought from natural gas wells and pipelines. Some critics say natural gas is a worse climate-change polluter than coal. That’s hotly disputed by energy companies.
• As Coal Sinks, Renewables Soar: Emissions Report Shows Start Of Clean Energy Transition (Think Progress) [emphasis added]:
  For the electric power industry, the signs of change are in the air. Power plants are emitting less pollution than in prior years, and renewable power is a bigger part of the energy mix than ever before. … The industry is in the midst of a real transition, and a new Ceres report shows that it’s happening even faster than experts predicted.
• CA: Gov. Jerry Brown Takes Aim at Climate Change Deniers (KCET Los Angeles) [emphasis added]:
  [T]oday at the Tahoe Summit California Governor Jerry Brown unveiled a new website … that takes on climate denialists in no uncertain terms.
  …
  “[A]fter decades of pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, humanity is getting dangerously close to the point of no return,” said Governor Brown. “Those who still deny global warming’s existence should wake up and honestly face the facts.”
• As drought looms in India, fear for its cattle (Reuters):
  Armed with the latest monsoon rainfall data, weather experts finally conceded this month that India is facing a drought, confirming what millions of livestock farmers around the country had known for weeks.
  …Just over halfway through this season, the rains are 17 percent below normal, and the weather office has forecast that the El Nino weather pattern will bring more disappointment in the few weeks that remain.
• Dr. Michael Mann: Fresh Falsehoods from Rich Muller: (Dr. Michael Mann, Penn State Univ.):
  THE REALITY: [Muller’s] claim is flatly wrong and betrays a disturbing lack of awareness of the published literature (not just the technical literature, but high profile paper in e.g. Nature) for a self-styled ‘climate expert’.
• IEA Bombshell: Global Warming May Lead To ‘Miami Beach In Boston’ Situation Unless Urgent Action Is Taken (Climate Progress):
  Ambassador Richard H. Jones warned that if energy policies do not adapt, enough carbon dioxide will be being emitted to reach 1,000 parts per million in the atmosphere. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that equates to 6º Celsius increase in temperature by the end of this century. “That’s basically Miami Beach in Boston,” he said.
• Bill McKibben: Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math (Rolling Stone):
  The fight, in the end, is about whether the industry will succeed in its fight to keep its special pollution break alive past the point of climate catastrophe, or whether, in the economists’ parlance, we’ll make them internalize those externalities.
• Must-See Videos: ABC Interviews Climatologist Michael Mann (Climate Progress)