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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Another day, another oil explosion, this time at an Exxon refinery in CA; 'Anti-petroleum' activists are a security threat, says Canada; January 2015 the 2nd hottest on record; PLUS: 'Our best idea': President Obama protects 3 new national monuments... 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): NYC could see 6-ft sea level rise; 'Every Kid in a Park': all 4th graders to get free national park passes; What can be done about psuedo-skepticism?; Duke Energy to pay $100m for coal ash spill; Arsenic found in CA water; Four new oil-related spills in North Dakota... PLUS: Fox News has no shame: Easily duped wingnuts spout phony science and climate-change lies... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Fox News, KXL Proponents Use Oil Train Explosions to Call for Keystone XL:
• VIDEO: Fox's Long History Of Exploiting Tragedies To Push For Keystone XL Pipeline (Media Matters):
  
  Fox News' Special Report used a story about a train derailment and oil spill in West Virginia to push for the passing of the Keystone XL pipeline, a common pattern for Fox, which has a long history of exploiting tragedies to push for the pipeline's construction.
• Data: Oil Trains Spill More Often, But Pipelines Spill Bigger (Climate Progress)
• Rail vs. pipelines: how to move oil (Intl. Energy Agency)
• Pick Your Poison For Crude --- Pipeline, Rail, Truck Or Boat (Forbes):
  
  For the normalized amount of oil spilled, it's truck worse than pipeline worse than rail worse than boat.
• Another Day, Another Oil Explosion: Exxon Refinery Explosion in Torrance, CA:
• Exxon Mobil refinery explosion: Cause unclear, portion of plant shut down(LA Times):
  
  The shaking from the blast was equivalent to a small earthquake, and was felt by many local residents....The refinery's flare system will continue to safely burn hydrocarbon gases as workers continue their efforts to stabilize operations, he said. The flare system is activated during an unplanned operational interruption.

• Huge Explosion Rips Through California Oil Refinery, Adding Fuel To Oil Worker Strike (Climate Progress)
• Canada: 'Anti-Petroleum' Activists Are a 'National Security Threat':
• VIDEO: Anti-petroleum radicals? Leaked RCMP documents refer to some environmentalists as a threat to Canada's security (CBC)



• 'Anti-petroleum' movement a growing security threat to Canada, RCMP say (Toronto Globe & Mail) [emphasis added]:
  
  The RCMP has labelled the "anti-petroleum" movement as a growing and violent threat to Canada's security, raising fears among environmentalists that they face increased surveillance, and possibly worse, under the Harper government's new terrorism legislation.
  ...
  The report extolls the value of the oil and gas sector to the Canadian economy, and adds that many environmentalists "claim" that climate change is the most serious global environmental threat, and "claim" it is a direct consequence of human activity and is "reportedly" linked to the use of fossil fuels.
• Anti-Oil Activists Named as National Security Threats Respond to Leaked RCMP Report (VICE) [emphasis added]:
  
  As the RCMP's report presents "violent aboriginal extremists" with "anti-petroleum ideology" as key national enemies, the government is forcing oil and gas projects onto diverse aboriginal nations that have never surrendered their lands to the Canadian state in any meaningful way.
• 9 weirdest things about this RCMP intelligence report on the "anti-petroleum movement" (PressProgress)
• Australia's and Canada's Leaders Are Laughing While the Planet Burns Up (The New Republic)
• Surveillance: FBI Visiting Anti-Keystone XL Activists:
• The FBI Is Making House Calls to Keystone XL Opponents (Climate Progress):
  
  "It's always the same line: 'We're not doing criminal investigations, you're not accused of any crime. But we're trying to learn more about the movement.'"
• Anti-oil sands activists in the U.S. are getting visits from the FBI (Toronto Globe & Mail) [emphasis added]:
  
  Unexpected visitors have been dropping in on anti-oil activists in the United States - knocking on doors, calling, texting, contacting family members....Opponents of Canadian oil say they've been contacted by FBI investigators in several states following their involvement in protests that delayed northbound shipments of equipment to Canada's oilsands.
• FBI Held Strategy Meeting With Keystone XL Partners (Alternet)
• It's Official: January 2015 the 2nd Hottest on Record:
• Hottest 12 Months On Record Globally Thanks To Warm January, Reports NASA (Climate Progress)
• Winter weather both toasty and cold; a tale of 2 nations (AP) [emphasis added]:
  
  Last month was the second warmest January on record globally, behind 2007, with temperatures 1.4 degrees above the average for the 20th century, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Meteorologists calculated that the United States in January was 2.9 degrees warmer than normal, making it the 24th warmest January since 1880.
• Global Summary Information - January 2015 (NOAA):
  
  Janaury 2015 second warmest on record;
  January had largest Antarctic sea ice extent on record
• 'Our Best Idea': Obama Protects 3 New National Monuments:
• Obama Designates 3 National Monuments, Congressman Deems Him 'King Barack' (Climate Progress):
  
  On Thursday, President Obama is expected to announce three new national monuments, adding to the 13 monuments he's already designated during his presidency. Traveling to Illinois, Obama will officially proclaim the Pullman Historic District of Chicago, Browns Canyon in Colorado, and a former Honouliuli Internment Camp site in Hawaii to be national monuments.
• Obama to declare Browns Canyon in Colorado a national monument (Denver Post)
• Honouliuli Internment Camp Given National Monument Recognition (Sierra Club)
• Obama creating national monuments in Chicago, Hawaii and Colorado today (Chicago Sun-Times)
• Internment camp, industrial town among new national monuments (CNN)

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

• New York City Could See 6-Foot Sea Rise, Tripling of Heat Waves by 2100 (Scientific American):
  
  Coastal communities, like many on Staten Island and in low-lying Brooklyn and Queens, could be in particular jeopardy, with storms likely to alter local beaches and coastlines. To date, the city has already dumped 26,000 linear feet of sand along Staten Island's shorelines, for instance, but that number could pale in comparison with future adaptation needs, the report said.
• Fox News has no shame: Easily duped wingnuts spout phony science and climate-change lies: There's a new big lie about global temperatures, and you'll never believe which "news" network is talking it up (The BRAD BLOG at Salon.com) [emphasis added]:
  
  Every few months, when climate change deniers decide they've come up with an all-new reason to convince themselves that global warming is all a big hoax, we like to take a look at whatever the latest scam is that they are propagating, either because they are part of the effort to help out the fossil-fuel industry, or simply because they enjoy being their brainwashed and/or incurious little tools.
• What Can Be Done about Pseudoskepticism?: Just because we don't know everything doesn't mean we know nothing (Scientific American) [emphasis added]:
  
  What do tobacco, food additives, chemical flame retardants and carbon emissions all have in common? The industries associated with them and their ill effects have been remarkably consistent and disturbingly effective at planting doubt in the mind of the public in the teeth of scientific evidence. Call it pseudoskepticism.
• Criminal charges in spills to cost Duke Energy $100 million (Charlotte News-Observer) [emphasis added]:
  
  Duke would pay a $100 million fine under a settlement agreement. Duke took a charge against earnings of that amount Tuesday to reflect its "probable financial exposure" to a grand jury probe of its coal ash practices.
• President Obama Launches New Effort to Get Kids Outside (Sierra Club)
FACT SHEET: Launching the Every Kid in a Park Initiative and Designating New National Monuments (White House.gov):
As part of President Obama's commitment to protect our Nation's unique outdoor spaces and ensure that every American has the opportunity to visit and enjoy them, today he will launch an "Every Kid in a Park" initiative that will provide all fourth grade students and their families with free admission to National Parks and other federal lands and waters for a full year.
• Four Oil-Related Spills Reported In North Dakota, The Latest In A Week Of Oil Mishaps (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
  
  Four "significant" oil-related spills, including two that impacted wetlands, were reported by North Dakota state officials this week. It's the fourth time this week that a big mishap involving the North American oil industry has occurred.
• Bill Gates Is Still Wrong On Climate Change, It Will Undo His Foundation's Work (Climate Progress):
  
  Yes, climate change will stifle the progress the foundation is predicting. Even back then, using a "middle of the road" greenhouse gas emissions scenario, a study in Science found that "Half of world's population could face climate-driven food crisis by 2100."
• Right-Wing Media Falsely Drag Steyer Into Oregon Gov. Scandal (Media Matters) [emphasis added]:
  
  Conservative media outlets are broadly attacking clean energy and the environmental movement by falsely alleging that prominent environmental philanthropist Tom Steyer has "deep ties" to the recent scandal involving Cylvia Hayes...In reality, there is no evidence that Steyer funded Hayes, or that Steyer has any other connection to the scandal.
• Arsenic, nitrates among pollutants in CA drinking water: report: (Reuters):
  
  California's public drinking water systems violated safety levels for contaminants more than 1,000 times during the 2012-2013 fiscal year says a report that cites high levels in some water systems of arsenic, nitrates and other pollutants.
• U.S. Department of State Will Use Embassies to Launch Innovative International Air Quality Program (US State Dept.):
  
  The effort will provide U.S. citizens and government personnel with better information on air quality at select embassies and consulates around the world to reduce health risks from outdoor air pollution, and will offer greater opportunities for the United States to create partnerships on air quality with other nations.
• "More research" into geoengineering is not such a hot idea (Grist):
  
  Regarding albedo modification, I cannot improve on the piquant words of environmental scientist Raymond T. Pierrehumbert: "the idea of 'fixing' the climate by hacking the Earth's reflection of sunlight is wildly, utterly, howlingly barking mad."
  ...
  If it's crazy today, it would be crazy tomorrow, so why not just abandon it?
• Now's Your Chance to Help Save the Imperiled Monarch Butterfly-and Get Paid to Do So (Take Part) [emphasis added]:
  
  Another threat, according to Grant, has been well-intentioned individuals who have planted a tropical form of milkweed, which competes with native varieties and is not beneficial to monarchs or other pollinators.
• It's Not Too Late To Stop Climate Change, And It'll Be Super-Cheap (Climate Progress):
  
  I rarely disagree with Dave Roberts. But he has a column on Grist, "We can solve climate change, but it won't be cheap or easy," that is wrong, pure and simple....The most important climate issue is the cost and consequences of inaction.

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: Fox 'News', California, Colorado, Illinois, Environment, Barack Obama, Los Angeles, Green News, Hawaii, Canada, Oil, Keystone XL, Exxon Mobil