IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Obama moves mountains --- unfortunately; Coal state Democrats heart coal; Chemical industry hearts BPA; PLUS: Big Bellies now in Philly! .... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail, billions in funding for the coal industry? 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' (links below): Grist test drives green toilet cleaners; Judge orders Duke Energy to shut down Indiana coal plant; Landowners: get paid for doing nothing!; "Green bank" could provide green lending if Congress approves; PLUS: Endangered Right whales get right-of-way protection in Boston Harbor... See below for more Green News!

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

• Obama walks a fine line over mining
• The Coal Tattoo Analysis: Mountaintop removal: Obama ‘walks a fine line’
• EPA Mining Decisions Favor Coal Industry: Hundreds of Miles of Streams at Risk of Ruin
• Tennessee: Bill to "Poison" State Streams Falls One Vote Short
• Climate Bill Earmarks $500M for Clean Coal 'Admin Expenses'
  
  "This is every industry's dream – to have the proceeds of a monopoly tax dedicated entirely to your interests," said Dan Greenwood, a professor of corporate finance and law at Hofstra University's School of Law. "The money doesn't need to be re-appropriated every year, all of it is dedicated to your industry, and your industry gets to decide on how the money is allocated."
• Learn more about mountaintop removal coal mining
• Coal Company Focus: "Massey's Dark Side"
• Strategy Being Devised To Protect Use of BPA;
  Groups Hope to Block Ban of Chemical
  Industry representatives weighed a range of ideas, including "using fear tactics [e.g. "Do you want to have access to baby food anymore?" as well as giving control back to consumers (e.g. you have a choice between the more expensive product that is frozen or fresh or foods packaged in cans) as ways to dissuade people from choosing BPA-free packaging," the notes said.

  The attendees estimated it would cost $500,000 to craft a message for a public relations campaign, according to the notes. "Their 'holy grail' spokesperson would be a 'pregnant young mother who would be willing to speak around the country about the benefits of BPA,' " the notes said.

• FDA Reviewing Decision on Safety of BPA
• California Senate approves ban on BPA in plastics: The bill now moves to the Assembly, where heavy opposition from manufacturers is expected. The chemical, bisphenol A, is common in baby bottles and is linked to developmental problems
• New city trash bins are smart, green-friendly
• Big Belly Solar.com
• Philadelphia Greenworks Plan

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report... See below!

• Which natural toilet-bowl cleaner wins with a flush?
• Duke ordered to close coal-fired units at Ind. plant
• California forests hold one answer to climate change: The state is a leader in setting up a program to offset heat-trapping emissions by investing in woodlands
  
  How lush. How lovely. How lucrative.

  This 2,200-acre spread in Humboldt County does well by doing good. For the last four years, Van Eck's foresters restricted logging, allowing trees to do what trees do: absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The conservation foundation that oversees the forest then calculated that carbon bonus and sold it for $2 million to individuals and companies trying to offset some 185,000 metric tons of their greenhouse gas emissions.

• Congress Should Charter the Green Bank
• NOAA shifts Mass. shipping lanes to aid right whales

                 

Article Categories: Green News