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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: The owners of the Keystone XL pipeline confirm the Republican/Fox 'News' lie about the number of jobs it will produce; Italian cruise ship crash threatens to become an environmental disaster as well; Two offshore oil disasters for Nigeria; PLUS: Despite concerns from the U.S. Coast Guard, it's full speed ahead for drilling in the Arctic ... 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): Peak coal: a 'crisis in the making'; ‘Congress is effectively controlled by climate change deniers’; Unlocking the secrets behind fracking; Bulgarians protest fracking; Scientists link farm pesticides to mass death of bees; Loggers 'burned Amazon tribe girl alive' ... PLUS: 'Half a degree': good news for the climate ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Fox Regular Hoenig: "Greens" "Love Animals But They Hate People" (Media Matters.org)
• Italian Cruise Ship Crash Threatens Environmental Disaster:
• Warnings of ecological timebomb after Italy ship wreck (AFP):
  
  Ortelli said there were 2,380 tons of fuel on the ship, which had just started its cruise when it ran aground. "This is the second worry, after human lives," he said, as crews began putting down anti-spill booms.
• What impact will the Costa Concordia disaster have on the environment? (Guardian UK):
  
  The fate of the Costa Concordia cruise liner highlights the wider impact of the cruise industry.

  Sergio Ortelli, the mayor of the small Tuscan island of Giglio where the cruise ship grounded last Friday, said on Monday that "this is an ecological timebomb".

• TWO Offshore Oil Disasters for Nigeria:
• Chevron oil rig catches fire off Nigeria coast: The company is still investigating the fire, which occurred near its North Apoi oil platform, where two workers are missing (Guardian UK)
• Nigeria on alert as Shell announces worst oil spill in a decade: The oil company says up to 40,000 barrels of crude oil was spilled 75 miles off the coast of the Niger delta (Guardian UK)
• Niger delta oil spills clean-up will take 30 years, says UN (Guardian UK)
• Nigeria's oil disasters are met by silence (Guardian UK)
• Nigeria: The Curse Of Oil (Leadership Magazine):
  
  Important as oil has been to the economy, research has shown that the gains are infinitesimal to the pains it has caused Nigeria. But can Nigeria get out of this oil curse without bleeding? Very unlikely.
• Occupy Nigeria Success: Nigerian Government to Restore Some Fuel Subsidies:
• Under Pressure, Nigerian Leader Relents on Gas Price (NY Times):
  
  Nigeria swallowed a hard lesson on Monday that has been inflicted on governments of developing nations the world over for years: try cutting subsidies for gas and the populace will erupt in rage.

  Faced down by thousands of demonstrators, demands for his removal and a weeklong general strike that paralyzed his fractious country, President Goodluck Jonathan abruptly gave in, partly restoring the fuel subsidy that — more than an Islamic insurgency in the north or a long-running conflict in the south — seemed to crystallize the frustrations of the people and draw them to the streets in outrage.

• Nigeria unions suspend strike after fuel price cut (Reuters)
• Nigerian police shoot protester dead amid fuel demonstrations (Telegraph UK)
• Analysis: Nigeria's Perfect Storm
• Nome, Alaska Finally Receives Fuel Delivery:
• Fuel transfer runs smoothly in iced-in Alaska city (AP):
  
  A Russian tanker that went on an ocean odyssey of 5,000 miles to deliver fuel to the iced-in city of Nome was offloading the gasoline and diesel in what officials say is smooth sailing so far, with one possible problem avoided.
• Full Speed Ahead on Dangerous, Hazardous Arctic Oil Drilling:
• Shell’s Arctic Drilling Plan Clears Hurdle (NYT Green):
  
  An appeals board of the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday rejected four challenges brought by Alaska Native entities and environmental groups like Earthjustice to block Clean Air Act permits covering airborne emissions from industrial operations.
• EPA Board Rejects Appeal on Shell Arctic Permit (ABC News)
• Even Owner of Keystone XL Doesn't Agree With GOP-Fox News Jobs Lies:
• VIDEO: Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline is Not a Jobs Plan, But an Oil Export Plan (NRDC via Think Progress Green)
• Big Oil’s Money Trail to Congress Looms Large for Keystone (Climate Central)
• Keystone Inspector Alleges Shoddy Work on Original Pipeline (Canadian Press)

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

• What will we do about coal’s ‘crisis in the making’? (Coal Tattoo):
  
  [It's] a “crisis in the making” in Boone County, where coal is such a big part of the economy, yet good coal seams are playing out and competition from other regions threatens future production levels.
• AFL-CIO Head Rich Trumka: ‘Congress Is Effectively Controlled By Climate Change Deniers’ (Think Progress Green):
  
  Speaking at the 2012 United Nations Investor Summit on Climate Risk & Energy Solutions, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka blasted climate deniers in Congress for threatening the free enterprise system and the future of civilization. Trumka began his speech laying out the stark challenge of global warming: a “stable climate is the foundation of our global civilization,” and thus “the prerequisite for a profitable investment environment.”
• Unlocking the Secrets Behind Hydraulic Fracturing (Texas Tribune):
  
  Starting Feb. 1, drilling operators in Texas will have to report many of the chemicals used in the process known as hydraulic fracturing. Environmentalists and landowners are looking forward to learning what acids, hydroxides and other materials have gone into a given well.

  But a less-publicized part of the new regulation is what some experts are most interested in: the mandatory disclosure of the amount of water needed to “frack” each well. Experts call this an invaluable tool as they evaluate how fracking affects water supplies in the drought-prone state.

• Bulgarians protest, seek moratorium on shale gas (Reuters):
  
  Thousands of Bulgarians protested throughout the Balkan country on Saturday against exploration for shale gas, worried it would poison underground waters, trigger earthquakes and pose serious public health hazards.
• Scientists link mass death of British bees to farm pesticides (The Scotland Herald):
  
  Nicotine-based pesticides in widespread use by farmers are implicated in the mass deaths of bees, according to a new study by US scientists.

  The authoritative, peer-reviewed research undermines the pesticide industry's long-repeated arguments that bees are not being harmed, and piles pressure on UK and US authorities to follow other countries by introducing bans on the chemicals.

• Loggers 'burned Amazon tribe girl alive' (Telegraph UK):
  
  Loggers in Brazil captured an eight-year-old girl from one of the Amazon's last uncontacted tribes and burned her alive as part of a campaign to force the indigenous population from its land, reports claimed on Tuesday night.
• Anti-Labor Koch Brothers Launch $6 Million Solyndra ‘Workers’ Attack Ad (Think Progress Green)
• New Readily Available And Inexpensive Material Could Remove Carbon Dioxide From Atmosphere At Unprecedented Rate (Think Progress Green):
  
  Scientists have discovered a potentially groundbreaking new weapon in the fight against excessive atmospheric carbon dioxide. According to Science Daily, a group of scientists including chemistry Nobel Laureate George A. Olah have found that polyethylenimine, a common and inexpensive material, can be used to achieve "some of the highest carbon dioxide removal rates ever reported for humid air, under conditions that stymie other related materials."
• How to tackle the climate, health and food crises, all at the same time (Guardian UK):
  
  Reducing the soot pumped out by cars and cooking fires and the methane from coal mines and oil wells would rapidly curb global warming, prevent air pollution deaths and boost crop yields

  From coal mines to rice paddies and cooking fires to diesel exhausts, 14 highly cost-effective measures could quickly curb global warming and save millions of lives, while also boosting global food production. That is the striking conclusion of a new study published in Science and the most authoritative look yet at the opportunities offered in tackling methane and black carbon - soot - pollution.

  The headline findings are striking.

• MORE: To Slow Climate Change, Cut Down On Soot, Ozone (NPR)
• Helping Teachers Stand Up for Science (NYT Green):
  
  The National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit group in Oakland, Calif., monitors legislation and local school board actions that are potentially threatening to the teaching of evolution. It also acts as a resource and adviser for science teachers who encounter problems with students, parents or supervisors on the issue. Climate change educators had no similarly devoted resource — until now.

  On Monday, the center announced that it was putting climate change under its umbrella as well.

• American Petroleum Institute's Scientific Director Questions ‘Any Effect At All’ From Greenhouse Pollution (Think Progress Green)
• Cow manure to power new King County plant (MyNorthwest.com):
  
  One of the biggest problems facing dairies trying to stay alive in rural King County is what to do with all the cow manure. But this week, construction began on a new plant in Enumclaw that will convert manure into electricity, cutting environmental costs and helping reduce emissions.

• VIDEO ANIMATION: Time history of atmospheric CO2 (NOAA Carbon Tracker YouTube channel):
• Skeptical Science: Get the FULL DEBUNKING of All Climate Science Denier Arguments
• Part 1: The brutal logic of climate change (David Roberts, Grist) [emphasis added]:
  
  It's simple: If there is to be any hope of avoiding civilization-threatening climate disruption, the U.S. and other nations must act immediately and aggressively on an unprecedented scale. That means moving to emergency footing. War footing. "Hitler is on the march and our survival is at stake" footing. That simply won't be possible unless a critical mass of people are on board. It's not the kind of thing you can sneak in incrementally.

  It is unpleasant to talk like this. People don't want to hear it.

• Part 2: The brutal logic of climate change mitigation (David Roberts, Grist)
• World headed for irreversible climate change in five years, IEA warns: If fossil fuel infrastructure is not rapidly changed, the world will 'lose for ever' the chance to avoid dangerous climate change (Guardian UK) [emphasis added]:
  
  The world is likely to build so many fossil-fuelled power stations, energy-guzzling factories and inefficient buildings in the next five years that it will become impossible to hold global warming to safe levels, and the last chance of combating dangerous climate change will be "lost for ever", according to the most thorough analysis yet of world energy infrastructure.
  ...
  "The door is closing," Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, said. "I am very worried - if we don't change direction now on how we use energy, we will end up beyond what scientists tell us is the minimum [for safety]. The door will be closed forever."
• Concise Overview: The IPCC report on extreme climate and weather events (Real Climate)
• READ the IPCC Report: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
• The Real Global Warming Signal (Tamino)
• No, global warming hasn't stopped (New Scientist)
• Top UN Climate Official Blasts U.S. Climate Policy: Americans Must Realize "This Is Their Future They're Compromising" (Think Progress Green)
• VIDEO: Climate Scientists Michael Mann on "A Look Into Our Climate: Past To Present To Future" (TEDx, YouTube)
• Heads in the Sand: Warning: "Climate change is occurring … and poses significant risks to humans and the environment," reports the National Academy of Sciences. As climate-change science moves in one direction, Republicans in Congress are moving in another. Why?
  (National Journal) [emphasis added]:
  Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, says there's no question that the influence of his group and others like it has been instrumental in the rise of Republican candidates who question or deny climate science. "If you look at where the situation was three years ago and where it is today, there's been a dramatic turnaround. Most of these candidates have figured out that the science has become political," he said.
  ...
  Groups like Americans for Prosperity have done it."

                 

Article Categories: Fox 'News', Alaska, Mainstream Media Failure, Environment, Republicans, Green News, BP Oil Disaster, EPA, Nigeria, Fracking, Koch Industries, Natural gas, Coal, Canada