With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
By Desi Doyen on 6/15/2010, 1:14pm PT  


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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: "The Nightmare Well"; Extreme storms in the Ozarks, but not a word from the climate denialists; Oil industry in the Congressional hotseat; PLUS: Will Obama finally seize the moment?... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Solar cells: Coming to a window near you?; Walmart tests plastic bag ban; UN creates 'IPCC for nature' to fight back against destruction of natural world; California gets first transmission-connected solar farm; Japan Accused of Bribing Nations to be Pro-Whaling; TVA fined $11.5 million in sludge spill; U.S. Drops Inspector of Food in China ...PLUS: Can Afghanistan escape the "resource curse" from it's "new" mineral wealth that isn't really new? ...

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

  • Gulf's GOP Governors, Minus Crist, call for More Drilling:
  • The Politics of Comprehensive Climate & Clean Energy Legislation:
  • Just For Fun: President Obama Sings "Kick Some Ass" Song (Auto Tune The News)

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

      • Solar cells: Coming to a window near you? (CNN)
      • Walmart Tries Plastic Bag Ban, But Will Public Buy In? (Triple Pundit)
      • UN creates 'IPCC for nature' to fight back against destruction of natural world: International body will organise global response to protect ecosystems 'that underpin all life – including economic life'. World governments voted last night to set up a major new international body to spearhead the battle against the destruction of the natural world. (Guardian UK)
      • California gets first transmission-connected solar farm (Climate Progress)
      • Japan Accused of Bribing Nations to be Pro-Whaling (Treehugger)
      • TVA fined $11.5 million in sludge spill (CNN):
        Tennessee state officials slapped the Tennessee Valley Authority with $11.5 million in fines Monday for a massive coal sludge spill in December 2008.

        The state Department of Environment and Conservation imposed the penalties after determining that the billion-gallon spill violated state clean-water and solid waste disposal laws.

      • U.S. Drops Inspector of Food in China, Due to Potential Conflicts of Interest (NY Times):
        Now serious questions about certification in China have been raised by the United States Agriculture Department. The agency, which uses private groups to conduct most organic inspections worldwide, has banned a leading American inspector from operating in China because of a conflict of interest that strikes at the heart of the organics’ guarantee. The federal agency also plans to send an audit team to China this year to broadly review the certification process.

        Federal officials say the banned inspector, the Organic Crop Improvement Association, used employees of a Chinese government agency to inspect state-controlled farms and food processing facilities.

      • Say what? Afghanistan has $1 trillion in untapped mineral resources? (Foreign Policy):
        But I'm (a) skeptical of that $1 trillion figure; (b) skeptical of the timing of this story, given the bad news cycle, and
        (c) skeptical that Afghanistan can really figure out a way to develop these resources in a useful way. It's also worth noting, as Risen does, that it will take years to get any of this stuff out of the ground, not to mention enormous capital investment.

        Moreover, before we get too excited about lithium and rare-earth metals and all that, Afghanistan could probably use some help with a much simpler resource: cement.

      • Afghanistan's Dangerous New Wealth: There is a depressing precedent for unstable countries that strike it rich. Can Afghanistan beat the curse? (Newsweek)
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