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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Natural gas methane leaks found to be 50% higher than EPA estimates; CO passes first-ever emissions regulations for oil & gas industry; Mississippi River shut down by oil spill; 2014 was hottest Winter Olympics ever; PLUS: ExxonMobil’s CEO says fracking is fine for your backyard — but not for his… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
2/25/2014
‘Green News Report’ – February 25, 2014 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – February 25, 2014 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Hog factories poisoning Iowa’s drinking water; Enbridge tar sands pipeline had 35 unreported spills; Small volcanoes tamping down atmospheric warming; CNN: Why are we still ‘debating’ climate change?; Legal setback for Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska; Supreme Court justices question EPA emissions authority; IPCC: Climate impacts ‘very evident’, ‘we are not prepared’ … PLUS: Global Shift to Clean Energy No Longer ‘Theoretical’ … and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- This Week’s Oil Spill Closes 65 Miles of Mississippi River:
- Mississippi River Back Open After Oil Spill : (AP):
Gresham said a study after the 2008 spill estimated that closing the river is a $290 million-a-day blow to the national economy, with higher daily figures after the first several days.
- EPA Underestimates Methane Leaks From Oil & Gas Production:
- VIDEO: Ooops. Excuse Me. Methane Leakage Underestimated by 50 Percent (Climate Crocks)
- America’s natural gas system is leaky and in need of a fix, new study finds (Stanford University) [emphasis added]:
U.S. emissions of methane are considerably higher than official estimates. Leaks from the nation’s natural gas system are an important part of the problem. This finding has important implications for natural gas as a possible replacement fuel for coal.
- By The Time Natural Gas Has A Net Climate Benefit You’ll Likely Be Dead And The Climate Ruined (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
The evidence is mounting that natural gas has no net climate benefit in any timescale that matters to humanity. In the real world, natural gas is not a “bridge” fuel to a carbon-free economy for two key reasons…Sadly as a comprehensive new Stanford study reconfirms, “America’s natural gas system is leaky.” …Second, natural gas doesn’t just displace coal — it also displaces carbon-free sources of power such as renewable energy, nuclear power, and energy efficiency.
- Colorado 1st State to Regulate Methane Emissions from Oil & Gas Production:
- VIDEO: Colorado approves historic air quality rules for oil and gas industry (KDVR-TV Denver)
- Colorado First State to Clamp Down on Fracking Methane Pollution (Bloomberg News)
- North Dakota Drillers Will Stop Wasting Gas When They Feel Like It (Climate Progress)
- Exxon CEO: Fracking For You But Not For Me:
- VIDEO: Rex Tillerson, Exxon CEO, Sues to Stop Fracking in His Backyard (Chris Hayes, MSNBC)
- Water tower suit involving Exxon’s CEO prompts a fracking fracas (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram):
But its argument is quite a bit more nuanced than most of the Internet headlines, which zero in on one sentence in the lawsuit which warns that water could be sold for drilling operations and lead to heavy truck traffic.
- It’s Official: 2014 Winter Olympics Warmest On Record:
- It’s Official: Sochi Was the Warmest Winter Olympics Ever (Slate):
As it turned out, not one moment of the Sochi Olympics was below freezing, as measured in Adler, Russia, 17 miles away (and at the same altitude). That’s never happened before.
- Analysis: The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Weather in Context (Meteorologist Matt Lanza, State of Occlusion blog) [emphasis added]:
This year’s weather issues at the winter games probably fall under the category of bad luck… [C]ertainly in recent years, the actual temperatures have warmed too. Should this be a surprise? Maybe, maybe not. The anomalies relative to normal haven’t been terribly impressive in recent years, but if the Sochi forecast verifies that will change a bit.
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- Global Shift to Clean Energy No Longer ‘Theoretical’ (The Tyee):
These days the data tell a powerful story. Recent price declines for solar energy have been “massive,” [Ethan Zindler, Bloomberg New Energy Finance] explained, while merely “substantial” for wind, meaning that a global shift away from fossil fuels is no longer “theoretical.”
- Enbridge Pipeline: unreported spills, alarming communities along 830-km pipe (Toronto Star):
Investigation unveils 35 spills along Enbridge’s suddenly controversial 830-km pipeline, many not revealed to communities until now.
- Small Volcanic Eruptions Add to Larger Impact on Climate (Climate Central):
The recent slow down in global warming has been attributed to a number of factors, including excess heat being stored in the deep ocean and reductions of certain greenhouse gases. Now add volcanic eruptions to the mix of contributing factors.
- CNN’s Reliable Sources Questions Why Media Present Existence Of Climate Change As A Debate (Media Matters)
- After Legal Setback In Nebraska, What’s Next For Keystone XL? (Climate Progress)
- Supreme Court justices question Obama EPA climate change regulations for biggest polluters (Reuters) [emphasis added]:
The justices are weighing just one aspect of the administration’s first wave of climate change regulations, focusing on whether the agency has authority to regulate greenhouse gases under a program for stationary sources of pollution, such as power plants and oil refineries.
- IPCC: Climate Impacts ‘Are Very Evident, They’re Widespread’ And ‘We Are Not Prepared’ (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
The next big report from the world’s leading climate scientists is on impacts, it’s due the end of March, and it isn’t pretty… Stanford’s Chris Field, who co-chairs the working group drafting the report, told reporters Monday that “the impacts of climate change that have already occurred are very evident, they’re widespread, they have consequences… [I]t’s very clear we’re not prepared for the kinds of event we’re already seeing.“
- Hog Wild: Factory Farms are Poisoning Iowa’s Drinking Water (On Earth Magazine):
Millions of pigs are crammed into overcrowded barns all across the state, being fattened for slaughter while breeding superbugs—all to feed China’s growing appetite for Spam.
- Sun and wind could power Tesla Gigafactory for EV batteries in Nevada (Autoblog Green)
- In Plan to Dump Contaminated Soil, Classic New Jersey Politics Emerge (NY Times):
Decades ago, American Cyanamid ruined this wetlands expanse, once home to rich oyster beds, with cyanide-contaminated sludge, the chemical detritus of the past century…The scientific staff at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection examined this proposal, and a number of members came away appalled. They said a flood could erode the Rahway River bank and cause the mound to collapse into the water.
- One More Way Fossil Fuels Make Life Better: Bakken Fields Boast Highest Rents in America (Climate Crocks)
- Cooling tubes at FPL St. Lucie nuke plant show significant wear (Tampa Bay Times)
- Conservative Media’s Favorite Climate Scientist Fulfills Godwin’s Law (Media Matters):
Roy Spencer: Climate Activists “Support Policies That Will Kill More People Than The Nazis Ever Did”
- Gov. Tomblin criticizes ‘unreasonable’ EPA rules (Charleston Gazette)
- BP gets slick in trying to undermine gulf oil spill settlement (LA Times):
BP is going down this path at a time when one would expect it to display maximum agreeability and contrition. The company is negotiating with federal agencies to end its more than year-old exclusion from new government contracts, dating back to its guilty plea.
- California city wages war against ‘environmental racism’ (Al Jazeera America)
- Arctic Autumns On Track To Warm A Staggering 23F, NOAA Warns (Climate Progress)
- Economist Says Best Climate Fix A Tough Sell, But Worth It (NPR) [emphasis added]:
If people would simply pay the cost of using the atmosphere as a dump for carbon dioxide, that would create a powerful incentive to dump less and invest in cleaner ways to generate energy. But how do you do that? “We need to put a price on carbon, so that when anyone, anywhere, anytime does something that puts carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, there’s a price tag on that,” he says.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
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