IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Good news for the U.S. auto industry? Obama says 'YES'!; Good news for opponents of mountaintop removal? EPA says 'YES'! Good news for fans of clean water? The New York Times says 'NO'! Can't win 'em all... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Geothermal-rich Iceland Fast-Tracks Electric Car Charging; Nuclear plant monitoring finds small amounts of radioactive isotope in water; Hawaii Tries Green Tools in Remaking Power Grids; Panasonic introduces new LED bulbs that shine for 19 years ... PLUS: Concept City of the Future: A Desert Oasis for a Drought-Stricken Future...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Who will build the World's Largest Solar Farm? Right. China!; Air pollution is bad for you. Who knew? ... PLUS: Oil, Oil, Toil and Trouble ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Are blackboards more environmentally friendly than whiteboards?; Waste Not, Watt Not: Energy efficiency cuts pollution while lowering energy bills; World's first off-shore floating wind turbine opens in Norway; ‘Once in a century’ downpour kills 20 in Turkey ... PLUS: The least sustainable seafood in the world, and why you should avoid it ....

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: The rising cost of fighting wildfires; JAWS is back?!?; Back to school with swine flu... PLUS: Van Jones, an advocate for green jobs, loses his own ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Why not spend $21 billion on solar power from space?; Dams, water conservation at issue in water reform; NBC explores 'toxic town' where residents were paid to pack and leave; Innovation in energy efficient lighting with Organic Light Emitting Diodes; Wind Energy "NIMBY Backlash?"; Lithium shortage to short out electric cars? Not so much ... PLUS: Big Oil creates phony climate denial site, then lies about it!....

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: California burning; Killing wolves; Recycling the Great Pacific Garbage Patch... PLUS: A Fracture in the Clean Coal Coalition ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): UN inks global treaty to fight illegal fishing; Mercury Found in Blood of One-Third of American Women; City of London Launches Green Business Guide Website; Continuing fallout from Chinese lead-poisoning scandal that hospitalized 2000 children; Heat Waves Getting Worse ... PLUS: How Much Surface Area Would It Take To Power the World With Wind and Solar?

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Fires rage across California as Hurricane Jimena bears down on Baja; Lights out for incandescent lightbulbs; The Summer of Astroturf! ... PLUS: Paving the Long Road to Solar... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): Clash in Alabama Over Tennessee Coal Ash; Is the United States Ready for a Higher Gas Tax?; Obama Administration sues Chicago-area coal-fired power plants; the Risks of climate geo-engineering; WHO Predicts That Within 2 Years, 1/3 Of World Will Have Caught Sickness... PLUS: Four crucial resources that may run out in your lifetime ...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

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IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Happy Anniversaries --- sort of; The Politics of "Fracking"; How about some weed-killer in your drinking water?... PLUS: Another sad loss for the environment... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): Yummy: Industrial pig farming, salmonella, and the National School Lunch Program; Dairy farmers brace for climate change; Groups target GOP on cap-and-trade; Toyota tops list of Cash for Clunkers winners; Africa wants $67 billion a year in global warming funds; The fallacy of climate activism... PLUS: The sticky problem of how to measure miles per gallon when it's all electric...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

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IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Your "socialist" National Parks; Oceans warm, Taiwan floods, Greece burns; Coming soon: Cash for Refrigerator Clunkers! ... PLUS: McCain goes nuclear... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): U.S. Senators fight fake grassroots "astroturf" campaigns and strengthen clean energy legislation; India's breadbasket faces water shortages; Hospitals May Face Severe Disruption From Swine Flu ... PLUS: French Winemakers Sound Alarm Over Climate Change...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

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(Brad and I are on the road, so we prepared this report for you before we left! --- Des)

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Making molehills out of mountains; Thunder Down Under; U.S. can save $1.2 trillion with energy efficiency --but some industry groups say 'not so fast'... PLUS: The plight of the humble bee... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): Poll confirms that Americans want strong action on climate and energy; ExxonMobil guilty in bird deaths; Researchers see dramatic drop in Indian groundwater; Defending the right of rich people to pollute; China’s Incinerators Loom as a Global Hazard ... PLUS: Recalled beef came from plants that supply the National School Lunch Program...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

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(Brad and I are on the road, so we prepared this report for you before we left! --- Des)

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Too late to save the world's fish?; Big trees grow smaller ... PLUS: A jump start for the electric car industry... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): U.S. bats are dropping dead; Recyclers, scientists probe Great Pacific Garbage Patch for profit and planet; Whole Foods Exec Slams Health Care Reform... PLUS: Do Seed Companies Control GM Crop Research?

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IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Another win for coal companies; Of green roofs & red tomatoes ... PLUS: Town Hall Follies, now with Clean Coal!... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): LUSH cosmetics says 'Don't Buy Palm Oil'; 'Feed-in Tariffs' help spread solar across the country; Solar thermal energy saves on homeowners' energy bills... PLUS: Stowaway mosquitoes threaten Galapagos wildlife...

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IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Climate change a threat to national security; Heat wave in the Arctic leads to accelerated melting; Former Governor Sarah Palin, denied; EPA comes clean ... PLUS: 230 miles per gallon? It's on the way... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): Arizona's economic future threatened by unabated groundwater use; Cement that Eats Carbon Dioxide; Dry cleaners leave a toxic legacy in Illinois, despite cleanup efforts; the Food, Energy and Environment ‘Trilemma’... PLUS: First U.S. "Power Tower" Lights Up California...

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IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: 'Cash for Clunkers' --- now with more cash!; 'Astroturfing' --- now with 'Clean Coal'!; 'Roadless areas' --- now without roads! PLUS: Obama talks batteries ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): What's Your Water Footprint?; Eco-tourism and organic farming in Costa Rica; Solar in the Sahara inches forward; Program successfully reduces shipping pollution at the Port of Seattle... PLUS: How Good Is Algae Fuel At Fighting Climate Change? Totally Depends...

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IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: The Democracy of Lobbyists; The forgeries of 'Clean Coal'... PLUS: Will Groucho Marx Republicans kill 'Cash for Clunkers'? ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): Sydney Opera House may be singing the blues with climate change; World's Largest Solar Cooking System Installed in India; Electric Car Maker Expects Market to Heat Up; Unabated use of groundwater threatens Arizona's future ... PLUS: Google Puts Green House Gases on the Map....Literally!

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Guest Blogged by DES

As we related in yesterday's 'Green News Report,' the federal auto-stimulus program Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) --- popularly nicknamed 'Cash for Clunkers' --- launched this week in earnest. The program is intended to help spur consumers to trade in old gas guzzlers with a virtual cash rebate of up to $4500, in exchange for purchasing a car, truck, or SUV with better (even just slightly better) mileage. After compromising on an initially proposed $4 billion program, Congress approved $1 billion in funding for the program, to be paid directly to car dealers, with a deadline of November 1st to file the paperwork.

Well, not long after airtime yesterday, and just four days after the program began in full, 'Cash for Clunkers' appears to have been so wildly popular that it had already run out of money.

According to the New York Times, the Transportation Department had asked car dealers around the country to stop offering the rebate program while officials determine the next course of action. By late this morning, however, they report, the White House has issued a statement that the program will continue at least through this weekend. "There's apparently too many clunkers and not enough cash," the Times' Richard Change notes.

As of yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had said the program was not suspended, as had initially been reported, and that the administration was "assessing the situation." He added, "all valid CARS transactions that have taken place to date will be honored." Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is said to be working with Congress to discuss ways to increase funding to extend the wildly popular program.

With the rebates ranging from $3,500 to $4,500 --- dependent on the miles per gallon of the trade-in compared to the new car purchased --- the $1 billion in funding was intended to cover about 250,000 new cars. Dealers have been collecting applications for the rebates since July 1st, in advance of the publication of the final rules and qualifying vehicles on Monday. Although the Department of Transportation reports a backlog of applications waiting to be processed, they reported they had already received approximately a quarter million applications as of Thursday night.

UPDATE: The U.S. House passed a bill late Friday to provide an additional $2 billion in funding for the CARS program, by diverting funds from a Department of Energy loan guarantee program. The Senate is expected to act next week, although CNN.com reports the "bill will face tough opposition in the Senate."

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IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: China & the U.S., together again; Canada's Tar Sands - still dirty!; the Gulf of Mexico's Dead Zone - still dead! ... PLUS: Cash for Clunkers ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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UPDATE:Shortly after airtime of the report above, which discusses the new "Cash for Clunkers" program, it was announced that the wildly popular program had already run out of the money Congress had allotted to it --- after just four days! Details now here...

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): Rooftop solar power model pays back fast; "Deadliest Catch" fishermen not greedy; Details released on Nissan's 2010 All-Electric Vehicle; Oil speculators to blame for price spike after all; Composting in the Office... PLUS: Cool-colored roofs save substantially on home energy costs ...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...