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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hits, misses and hype in a not-so-historic Blizzard 2015!; The influence of global warming on the storm, with a 100% chance of denial; U.S. Interior Dept. to expand offshore drilling, as another pipeline explodes in West Virginia; PLUS: Obama calls on Republicans to permanently protect the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): We can solve climate change, but it won’t be cheap or easy; Study: Global warming 'doubles risk' of extreme weather; 10 predictions for clean energy in 2015; Greenland lakes speeding ice sheet melt; Obama and Modi agree to advance nuclear energy in India; Anadarko's record $5 billion settlement; PA fracking companies routinely violate environmental laws... PLUS: Fossil-fueled Koch-backed network aims to spend nearly $1 billion on 2016 elections... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

• Historic Preparation for Not-So-Historic Blizzard 2015:
• U.S. Blizzard 2015: 'Mass'-ive Storm Slams Coast, Nantucket (ABC News)
• Many New York Subway Trains Ran Overnight Despite Purported Shutdown (Slate)
• De Blasio: I was frozen out of decision to shut down subways (NY Post) [emphasis added]:
  
  “Would you rather be ahead of the action or behind? Would you rather be prepared or unprepared?” he said.
• Shutting Down New York’s Subways Is Very Expensive (NY Times)
• Blizzard expected to bring New York to standstill; subway to shut down (LA Times)
• Blizzard of 2015: 'Historic' snow storm turns into real Snor'easter for some, gets mocked (Syracuse.com)
• 'Fair To Say' the Intensity of Blizzard 2015 Fueled By Global Warming, High Ocean Temps:
• VIDEO: How climate change impacts severe weather (MSNBC)
• What A Warming World Means for Major Snowstorms (Climate Central) [emphasis added]:
  
  Simply put, the warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which can mean more snow as long as temperatures remain cold enough; average snow amounts are actually expected to decrease with warming by 2100, but the most extreme snows won't drop off quite as quickly.
• The Great Blizzard of 2015: Fair to say it is AGW amplified. (Science Blogs)
• Blizzard of Nor'Easters No Surprise, Thanks to Climate Change: More extreme storms are expected to fall on the Northeast as climate changes. (National Geographic)
• How Everyone but the Weather Channel Botched the NYC Blizzard Forecast (Slate)
• Snowpocalypse: How Global Warming Creates Gargantuan Blizzards (Alternet)
• Pipeline Explodes In West Virginia, Sends Fireball Shooting Hundreds Of Feet In The Air (Climate Progress):
  
  A gas pipeline in Brooke County, West Virginia exploded into a ball of flames on Monday morning, marking the fourth major mishap at a U.S. pipeline this month.
• Interior Dept. Proposes Opening New Areas to Offshore Drilling:
• Obama wants to allow oil drilling off the East Coast — but limit it in Alaska (Vox.com)
• Interior Department Announces Draft Strategy for Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing (Interior Department)
• Obama administration opens up southern Atlantic coast to offshore drilling – but restricts it in Alaska (Washington Post):
  
  The Obama administration on Tuesday outlined a politically fraught plan for allowing oil drilling in U.S. coastal waters, announcing steps to open parts of the southeastern U.S. coastline for oil leasing while imposing new restrictions on environmentally fragile waters off Alaska’s North Slope.
• Obama moves to block development in 9.8 million acres of Arctic Ocean (Alaska Dispatch)
• Drilling plan may restrict sensitive Arctic Ocean areas (AP)
• Obama Asks Republicans To Protect Arctic National Wildlife Refuge:
• Obama administration to propose new wilderness protections in Arctic refuge — Alaska Republicans declare war (Washington Post) [emphasis added]:
  
  While only Congress can create a wilderness area, once the federal government identifies a place for that designation, it receives the highest level of protection until Congress acts or a future administration adopts a different approach.
• White House Proposes Protecting More Than 12 Million Acres Of Alaska’s Arctic Refuge (Climate Progress):
  
  Murkowski said in the statement that her state would “defeat [the White House’s] lawless attempt to designate ANWR as a wilderness, as well as their ultimate goal of making Alaska one big national park.”
• White House Tells Alaskan Senator to Chill Out on ANWR (Bloomberg)
• AUDIO: How Much Oil And Gas Is At Stake In ANWR? (NPR)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

• We can solve climate change, but it won’t be cheap or easy (Grist):
  
  Long story short, most decarbonization scenarios are thought experiments, not practical roadmaps. But when they are reported to the public, that distinction is often lost. More to the point, we are past the time when thought experiments are enough.
• Study: Global warming 'doubles risk' of extreme weather (BBC):
  
  Extreme weather arising from a climate phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean will get much worse as the world warms, according to climate modelling....The latest data - based on detailed climate modelling work - suggests extreme La Nina events in the Pacific Ocean will almost double with global warming, from one in 23 years to one in 13 years.
• Michael Liebreich: 10 predictions for clean energy in 2015 (Bloomberg New Energy Finance):
  
  Right now in the energy sector, everyone is transfixed by the big fight going on in the oil industry between conventional and unconventional production, OPEC vs non-OPEC, Saudi Arabia versus the frackers....The press, right now, is only interested in “dinosaur stories”. Welcome to 2015!
• Fossil-fueled Koch-backed network aims to spend nearly $1 billion on 2016 elections (Washington Post) [emphasis added]:
  
  The massive financial goal was revealed to donors Monday during an annual winter meeting hosted by Freedom Partners, the tax-exempt business lobby that serves as the hub of the Koch-backed political operation, according to an attendee. The amount is more than double the $407 million that 17 allied groups in the network raised during the 2012 campaign.
• Greenland Lakes Could be Speeding Ice Melt
  (Climate Crocks) [emphasis added]:
  As happens so often in science, Mike Willis wasn’t actually looking for what he ended up discovering. The glaciologist was combing through satellite and GPS data to see what small, local effects could be clouding satellite measurements of larger changes in Earth’s gravity from ice loss. What he did not expect to find was a hole twice the size of Central Park in a small ice cap in the northern reaches of Greenland.
• India PM Modi’s Clean-Energy Goals Face Funding, Political Hurdles (Bloomberg) [emphasis added]:
  
  Following meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama in New Delhi, Modi said India, a nation with some of the dirtiest air in the world and 400 million people without access to electricity, is prepared to use renewable power to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. The leaders also announced a breakthrough that may herald an expansion of carbon-free civilian nuclear projects.
• Anadarko Pays Record $5.15 Billion Environmental Settlement (Environment News Service) [emphasis added]:
  
  “The Kerr-McGee Corporation spent decades despoiling our nation’s natural resources, leaving a toxic legacy for communities across the nation, from Sidney, New York, to the Navajo nation,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York. “Then, Kerr-McGee tried to escape the consequences of its misdeeds by transferring its most valuable assets to affiliates, leaving an insolvent shell behind, unable to pay its environmental liabilities,” said Bharara.
• Pennsylvania Fracking Companies Regularly Commit Serious Environmental Violations (Climate Progress):
  
  [The report] found that the top 20 most frequently-violating companies broke the rules 1.5 times per day on average. “These violations are not ‘paperwork’ violations, but lapses that pose serious risks to workers, the environment and public health,” the report’s authors write.
• Senate blocks measure to build Keystone XL pipeline; discussions will continue (Washington Post):
  
  Senate Democrats stalled the Republican-led push to construct the Keystone XL pipeline on Monday, dealing the first significant blow to the new GOP majority less than three weeks after it was sworn in.
• VIDEO: Inside A Coal Ash Community That Can’t Use Its Tap Water (Cliamte Progress):
  
  Just this past summer, Gobble found out via tests from the group Waterkeeper Alliance that the water wells surrounding her home — including the one that provides her tap water — contain aluminum, chromium, lead, iron, manganese, and hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen. Duke Energy, the company that owns the coal ash pond, has denied that the contamination is its doing.
• VIDEO: New Senate Environment Chair Gets His Gavel, Goes On Rant Arguing Climate Science Is A Hoax (Climate Progress)
• VIDEO: “..a Bloodbath”: Efficiency, Renewables and Smart Grid will Kill Old Energy (Climate Crocks):
  
  Not much doubt that everyone gets that we are transitioning to renewables, and soon. Obviously some spread in how fast they think it will happen.
• Another Climate Denial Myth Scuttled as 2014 Confirmed Planet's Hottest Year Ever Recorded (The BRAD BLOG):
  
  How fossil-fueled global warming hoaxsters cherry-pick scientific data to con the incurious...

FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page

• Video Proof That Global Warming is a 'Hoax'!: NASA Temperature Data 1888-2011 (The BRAD BLOG):



• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).

                 

Article Categories: West Virginia, Alaska, New York, Environment, Barack Obama, Republicans, Green News, Lisa Murkowski, Natural gas, Oil, Climate change, Extreme weather, Keystone XL, Transportation