Brad Blog

 

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: On the one hand, Obama moves the environmental ball forward --- on the other hand... not so much; Oil leak in CO; Fish populations rebound (thanks, Big Government!); BP trial update; Abu Dhabi opens world's largest solar plant; Power failure at stricken Fukushima nuke plant; PLUS: Wind turbine sickness caused by anti-wind propaganda ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Listen online here, or Download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link: Embed:

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): High-resolution charts show carbon impacts skyrocketing; Democratic senators intro legislation to end oil industry tax breaks; March's extreme weather swings; Emergency cleanup at abandoned gold mine; Canada scientists muzzled by Harper Administration; Debunking the Daily Mail -again; Days of promise fade for ethanol ... PLUS: "De-extinction": Why we shouldn't bring back extinct species from the dead ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• GOP Congressman: Global Warming a Myth Because It Was Cold at Obama's Inauguration (The BRAD BLOG)
• Parachute Creek spill continues uncontained; cause, source unknown (Denver Post)
• Interior Dept Spanks Shell's Arctic Adventure: We Really Really Mean It This Time
• Interior Dept. Warns Shell on Arctic Drilling (NY Times):
  “Shell screwed up in 2012 and we’re not going to let them screw up whenever their pause is removed unless they have these systems in place,” Mr. Salazar said in a news briefing Thursday.
• BP Oil Spill Trial: Transocean Says 'Not Our Fault'
• Transocean CEO testifies about safety culture leading to BP oil spill (NOLA.com):
  The head of Transocean Ltd., which leased its Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and supplied its crew to BP to drill the ill-fated Macondo well, testified Tuesday that the rig's crew members "should have done more" to recognize problem signs pointing to a potential blowout during drilling and ordered the operation shut down. But he said the crew's failure was caused by following the improper recommendations of BP officials overseeing the operation.
• Transocean to pay $1.4B fine for Gulf oil spill (CNN)
• The Oil Leak in the Gulf We're Not Supposed to Know About (Triple Pundit)
• Power Failure Scare at Fukushima:
• Power restored at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant (South China Morning Post):
  Tepco, which has faced repeated cover-up scandals, was slammed by local media Tuesday for waiting hours to disclose the blackout. [Company spokesman Masayuki] Ono acknowledged the plant was vulnerable. “Fukushima Dai-ichi still runs on makeshift equipment, and we are trying to switch to something more permanent and dependable, which is more desirable,” he said. “Considering the equipment situation, we may be pushing a little too hard.”
• Fukushima loses cooling power: No electricity to pumps that feed ponds where spent nuclear fuel rods must be kept underwater at a safe temperature (Guardian UK)
• Power outage hits Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant (AP):
  The utility said the nuclear fuel stored in the pools will remain safe for at least four days without fresh cooling water.
• More U.S. military join lawsuit over Fukushima exposure (CNN)
• U.S. Sailors Sue Japan Nuclear Plant Owner, Say Fukushima Disaster Made Them Sick (Huffington Post)
• Abu Dhabi Opens World's Largest Solar Thermal Plant::
• VIDEO: Largest concentrated solar power plant opens in Abu Dhabi (BBC)
• Flush With Oil, Abu Dhabi Opens World's Largest Solar Plant (NPR)
• Total, Abengoa See Mideast Solar Boom as Largest Generator Opens (Bloomberg News):
  Adding clean-power generators may help oil-rich nations in the region to conserve more of their crude and gas for export, reducing their use of the fuels to generate power that’s sold at subsidized prices.
• Good News: [Some] Fish Populations in the United States Rebound (NY Times)
• Wind Turbine Sickness Caused by Anti-Wind Propaganda:
• Wind Turbine Syndrome is Bullshit (ClimateCrocks.com) [emphasis added]:
  [In one study, the] researchers then told each person they were going to be exposed to two 10-minute periods of infrasound in a special acoustic room when, in fact, for one of those periods they would be exposed to no sound at all, or “sham infrasound” as the researchers describe it. So what happened?
• How the power of suggestion generates wind farm symptoms (The Conversation)
• Obama Proposes $2b 'Energy Security Trust':
• VIDEO: President Obama on Energy Issues at Argonne National Labs (C-span.org):






• Obama at Argonne: Energy Security Trust fact sheets (Chicago Sun-Times)
• Obama wants $2 billion to get the U.S. off oil. Will Congress agree? (Washington Post)
• A Closer Look at Obama’s Plan to Pay for Energy Research With Drilling Fees (NYT Dot Earth)
• Why the EPA May Delay Emissions Rules For Power Plants: (Washington Post):
  “A lot of people, myself included, think this approach is almost certain to get struck down in court,” says Jeffrey Holmstead, an energy-industry attorney at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP who headed up the EPA’s air division during the Bush administration.
• Obama Will Use Nixon-Era Law to Fight Climate Change (Bloomberg) [emphasis added]:
  President Barack Obama is preparing to tell all federal agencies for the first time that they should consider the impact on global warming before approving major projects, from pipelines to highways. The result could be significant delays for natural gas- export facilities, ports for coal sales to Asia, and even new forest roads, industry lobbyists warn.

  “It’s got us very freaked out,” said Ross Eisenberg, vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers...

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

• Must-See High-Resolution Charts: ‘Carbon Pollution Set To End Era Of Stable Climate’ (Climate Progress)
• Days of Promise Fade for Ethanol (NY Times):
  Nearly 10 percent of the nation’s ethanol plants have stopped production over the past year, in part because the drought that has ravaged much of the nation’s crops pushed commodity prices so high that ethanol has become too expensive to produce.
• Feinstein, Nelson want to limit oil company tax and royalty breaks (NOLA.com) [emphasis added]:
  Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced a bill Monday that would end federal incentives that encourage the waiving of royalty payments to encourage deep-water drilling. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., introduced a bill at the same time that would change the tax code to deny tax deductions from oil-spill related expenses including legal, clean-up and other costs.
• Don’t Bring Back the Saber-Toothed Tiger: How de-extinction could derail the conservation movement. (Slate) [emphasis added]:
  "‘What if DNA could be used to bring a species back?’ I felt a tsunami of awe and excitement barrel through the audience. This was as exciting as his declaration about the digital world in 1984 when he said, ‘Information wants to be free.’ ”
• From Heat Wave to Snowstorms, March Goes to Extremes (Climate Central)
• Canada: Ottawa seeks emergency cleanup of abandoned northern mine (CTV News):
  Federal officials are scrambling to clean up a crumbling, abandoned northern gold mine that is in imminent danger of releasing massive amounts of arsenic, asbestos and other toxins.
• Canada: Harper government’s reckless and undemocratic muzzling of scientists (Toronto Star):
  It has been a year since Nature, one of the world’s leading scientific journals, chided the federal Conservatives for their antagonism to openness and declared, “It is time for the Canadian government to set its scientists free.”
• Sen. Roy Blunt placing a hold on Obama's EPA nominee (LA Times):
  Blunt said the hold would remain in place until the Obama administration issued a timeline for release of a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway Project.
• Debunker: How the Daily Mail's David Rose Hides the Rise in Global Warming (Skeptical Science)
• VIDEO: Finding No Evidence Of A "War On Coal," Fox Cries Cover-Up (Media Matters)
• New Research: World on Track for Climate Disaster:
• COVER STORY: It's Global Warming, Stupid (Businessweek):
  If all that doesn't impress, forget the scientists ostensibly devoted to advancing knowledge and saving lives. Listen instead to corporate insurers committed to compiling statistics for profit.
• Ocean Acidification: Animals are already dissolving in Southern Ocean (New Scientist)
• Global warming targets further out of reach, UN says (Phys.org):
  Based on current pledges, global average temperatures could rise by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5.4 to 9.0 degrees Fahrenheit) this century --- way above the two degrees Celsius being targeted, said a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report.
• Essential Climate Science Background:
• Skeptical Science: Get the FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Arguments
• VIDEO: James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change (TED Talks):
  Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about the future.
• VIDEO ANIMATION: Time history of atmospheric CO2 (NOAA Carbon Tracker YouTube channel):
• VIDEO: Animation Charts Modern Global Warming (NYT Green)
• Thinking Big: NREL Study Shows 80 Percent Renewables Possible By 2050 (Climate Progress)
• 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. ...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)
• How to Buy Time in the Fight against Climate Change: Mobilize to Stop Soot and Methane: A short list of relatively simple actions taken to reduce greenhouse gases other than CO2 could help put the brakes on global warming--if implemented globally (Scientific American)
• 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 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)
• The Real Global Warming Signal (Tamino)

Early last month, The BRAD BLOG offered an exclusive special report on how a single Registrar of Voters in Fresno County, CA effectively stopped a citizen-organized attempt to confirm the results of last November's Prop 37 initiative dead in its tracks. She was able to stop an attempted post-election hand count of the paper ballots in her county by charging the proponents of the count an outrageous and seemingly arbitrary high price to carry out the count.

Now, a very similar story is being reported in regard to an attempt to confirm the results of a mayoral race in another California county where the "losing" candidate is said to have lost by just 53 votes. In that case, rather than an outrageous $4,000 per day to count the paper ballots again, as was the case for Prop 37 in Fresno, the candidate has been charged $2,000 per hour for her attempt to verify that the results of her contest were accurately reported by the computer system.

The much-watched Prop 37 initiative last November, had it passed, would have required Genetically Modified foods to be labeled as such. The measure was opposed by corporations such as Monsanto, DuPont and Hershey with a $44 million propaganda blitz against the landmark initiative in progressive California.

The proposition's loss surprised supporters of the measure, some of whom joined in a post-election effort to hand-count the paper ballots from the contest in a number of counties to ensure the secretly-tallied computer results were accurate. After hand-counting ballots in Orange and Sierra Counties, where no unusual irregularities were discovered, the effort was stymied in Fresno County by outrageously high and seemingly illegal pricing set for the "recount" by the county's recently-appointed Registrar Brandi Orth.

As we detailed, while the County Clerk in Orange had charged the proponents a reasonable $600/day for hand-counting ballots, and the Registrar in Sierra had charged just $500/day, Fresno's Orth had attempted to charge some $4,000/day. And that was in addition to a "start up" fee of $14,000 that proponents and Election Integrity advocates were also told they'd need to cough up in cash before a single ballot could be hand-counted there.

The seemingly arbitrary pricing for confirming the results in Fresno ended up putting the kibosh on the attempted statewide count. As we described in the report, the case echoed a similar attempt by Election Integrity advocates to hand-count paper ballots in a contested Special Election for the U.S. House in San Diego County in 2006. There, the county Registrar had attempted to charge approximately $1.00 per ballot (with some 150,000 cast) to confirm the results. That was in contrast to the .14 per ballot charged by neighboring Orange County for a separate hand-count not long before.

The extraordinary $2,000/hour costs being charged in Stanislaus County, however, put all of that to shame. And it underscores, once again, how the lack of standards for "recount" pricing make laughable the notion that computer-tallied paper ballots are just fine because "they can always be counted later if there are any questions about results later on."

As we learn once again in California, where the "recount" laws are actually amongst the most liberal in the country, the ability for citizens to confirm the results of secretly-tallied computer-results after they are certified is no easy feat. It's often impossible. Making the matter more outrageous, a single county clerk can effectively block the entire process...

According to an excellent report by Ken Carlson at the Modesto Bee, former Riverbank, CA Mayor Virginia Madueño is currently contesting charges leveed by Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters Lee Lundrigan that amount to $20 per ballot, as counted in during a 5-hour hand-count last December.

Madueño's attorney told Carlson that her client received "written statements" from the Registrar "that the recount would cost $300 an hour, with a $2,400 deposit required each day of the recount."

In January, however, after the count, the former Mayor received a letter notifying her that a $7,817 balance was owed to the county --- more than three times the estimate she was given before the recount. According to the Bee, that count was not even done by hand. It was carried out on the same oft-failed, easily-manipulated optical-scan computers that tallied the votes in the first place (either correctly or incorrectly. Who knows?)

There were only about 6,000 votes cast in the entire race, and Madueño only checked about 500 of them from one precinct before calling off the post-election tally.

Carlson reports the totals now being charged to the candidate are "about 10 times the highest charges assessed by counties in the statewide Proposition 29 recount last year."

Our report on Prop 37 offered a number of details from Dr. John Maa, the man who filed for and bankrolled that Prop 29 recount. (That measure, had it been successful on the June 2012 ballot, would have added a $1-per-pack tax on cigarettes to fund cancer research.) Maa told The BRAD BLOG that he found "a wide variability of recount costs across the State of California" during both the Prop 29 and Prop 37 counts. (He served as an unofficial adviser on the latter.) He also complained that bills for thousands of dollars in additional costs were sent from two counties after the hand-counts were completed.

Here are some of the per ballot costs he cited to us from his Prop 29 "recount":

• Orange County: .29 per ballot
• Placer County: .94 per ballot
• Los Angeles County: $2.24 per ballot
• Sacramento County: $3.86 per ballot

"As our State does not have a mandatory trigger for an automatic recount in the case of a close contest," Maa told us at the time, "requesting a recount remains the primary strategy to audit the certified results." He said he believed that state "Registrars have misapplied the Elections Code and Secretary of State's instructions about allowable recount expenses." Our report explicitly detailed those expenses in the case of Fresno's pricing for the aborted Prop 37 count.

"A candidate or recount requester should not be disadvantaged in one county relative to a candidate/requester in a neighboring County where the recount fees can be an order of magnitude less expensive," he said, citing another recent attempted "recount" in a race for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors which, he said, was "cancelled after the recount requester was informed of the very high startup and daily costs for the recount by the San Francisco Elections Office."

Maa spent approximately $250,000 of his own money in his own attempt to confirm the results of Prop 29. Most citizens who wish to challenge election results are confirm them, do not have that kind of extra cash lying around.

Tom Courbat, the Election Integrity advocate --- and, incidentally, a 25-year veteran fiscal manager in three different CA counties --- helped lead the Prop 37 count and was outraged by the attempted charges in Fresno where, he said, "democracy...is only available to high-rollers."

In the recent Modesto Bee report, Madueño's attorney Amber Maltbie echoed Courbat: "Stanislaus County is not a place where ordinary folks will be asking for a recount."

"Citizens need 'cost containment' of recount costs to ensure every citizen, regardless of his/her economic status, can exercise the basic democratic right to a recount," Courbat told us for the Prop 37 story. "It is the last line of defense in maintaining the democratic operations of our republic."

Unfortunately, Madueño has now learned that lesson as well in Stanislaus County. Her attorney says the variable rates --- particularly the ability to "blindside" candidates later --- "will have a chilling effect" on those citizens attempting to confirm the results of their own elections.

Carlson quotes Dennis McCord, who lost a local city council race by eight votes last November as saying he received "conflicting estimates" when inquiring about a post-election count. He was finally told it would cost $12,500 to count the 5,100 votes in his race.

"It doesn't make sense that they don't know what it cost to recount 5,100 votes," he told Carlson in the Bee. "I would say $12,500 is a lot of money for a city council race. That kind of money could do a lot of good in the community."

Indeed we noted in our initial report that just one week of counting would have cost the Prop 37 proponents "$38,000 by the end of the first week, $58,000 by the end of the second week and $78,000 by the end of week three," according to Courbat, the former county Finance Director turned Election Integrity advocate.

Courbat was recently in Sacramento working with a number of other advocates to find a sponsor in the state legislature who might propose a bill to standardize "recount" costs in the state, or, at the very least, require that County Registrars post costs for post-election counts on their websites before elections. He has yet to find a sponsor for such a bill.

For her part, CA Sec. of State Debra Bowen --- once regarded as a champion of Election Integrity --- has remained disturbingly silent. While her office offered cursory response to our initial inquiries while working on the Prop 37 story, they stopped replying all together when we quoted chapter and verse from state Election Code and state Requirements as to how Fresno's Registrar Orth seemed to be blatantly ignoring both in her charges for a hand-count.

Bowen's office did not reply to our invitation to appear on our KPFK/Pacifica Radio show to discuss the matter either, though both Courbat and Maa appeared to discuss it. That February 7th interview can be heard here.

How much longer the mess in CA will continue to block citizens from being able to oversee and authenticate their own election results before either the Sec. of State or the Assembly steps in to do something about it is anybody's guess.

But, as we noted when we originally reported this story, this issue makes the notion that "we can count paper ballots later, if needed" absolutely absurd. If paper ballots are not publicly hand-counted by actual humans, as per "Democracy's Gold Standard" on Election Night, there is a very good chance that they will never be counted --- by anyone.

Even in California --- where the recount laws are far more liberal than most of the rest of the country, in a state where any voter may exercise the right of requesting a hand-count, so long as they are willing to foot the actual costs for it --- thanks to a lack of pricing standards, lack of enforcement of the few standards that do exist, and the ability of any Registrar to virtually name any price they like, actual costs be damned, elections here, as in the rest of the country, as noted in February, "are still an exercise in faith and trust in secret vote tallies and the officials who run them" which "hardly seems the way to run the 'world's greatest democracy'".

* * *Please support The BRAD BLOG's fiercely independent, award-winning coverage of your electoral system, as available from no other media outlet in the nation --- now in our TENTH YEAR! --- with a donation to help us keep going (Snail mail, more options here). If you like, we'll send you some great, award-winning election integrity documentary films in return! Details right here...

These remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday, in which Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) ridiculed the President because he "wants to keep pushing this green energy", helps place the 3-term Representative into the running, perhaps even the lead, for the absolute dumbest sitting GOP Congressman --- though we realize that's a very crowded field...

At CPAC today, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) argued that climate change is a myth and doesn’t need to be addressed, noting that President Obama was cold during the inauguration.

"He talked about global warming at his inauguration, I found it ironic that the President was wearing a trench coat it was so cold but he’s talking about global warming," Scalise said.

He also noted that a snow storm later cancelled a congressional hearing on climate change, "you can’t make this stuff up."

Of course, climate change is actually leading to more incidences of blizzards and winter still tends to be cold.

See RightWingWatch for the actual video of Scalise's unbelievably stupid and misinformed remarks. To echo him, "you can't make this stuff up."

[Hat-tip D.R. Tucker]

Before things turn too ugly this week, let's take a moment to flag four great progressive things --- arguably, four great conservative progressive things --- which all happened on Friday.

The first two items got a fair amount of notice, the second two, not so much. But since they all happened on the same day, and that day was Friday, when such stories tend to disappear all together, they are all worth briefly flagging here to make sure you're aware of them...

• Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), a co-sponsor of the unconstitutional "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA) in 1996, became the first sitting Republican Senator to come out in favor of marriage equality for all. It took him learning that he had a gay son two years ago before he was finally able to do the right thing, but we'll take what we can get. It's another in a string of victories and very encouraging signs for conservative progressivism, specifically the right of equal protection under the law for all.

• The Maryland legislature voted to ban the inhumane, abhorrent, expensive, ineffective and unequally applied Death Penalty. They become the 6th state in as many years to do so, and the 18th state overall. As Governor Martin O'Malley (D) notes in an op-ed today: "Across our ever-more-closely connected world, the majority of public executions now take place in just seven countries: Iran. Iraq. The People’s Republic of China. North Korea. Saudi Arabia. Yemen. And the United States of America." This is another clear victory for those who believe in the Constitutional value of equal justice for all under the law and who hate Big Government --- the biggest --- allowing itself to kill its own citizens.

• A federal court ruled that the use of so-called "National Security Letters" --- essentially, a warrantless statement from the FBI handed over to banks, libraries, phone companies, etc., demanding unlimited private information about a specific person for supposed "national security purposes" --- is unconstitutional. Specifically, the gag order on those banks, libraries, phone companies, etc., disallowing them from notifying the target about the intrusion on their privacy, is what the judge found in violation of the First Amendment. The case brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation(EFF). The use of these letters have been one of the most insidious and abused elements of the PATRIOT Act for a very long time, ever since its passage following 9/11. The court ruling is likely to be appealed by the DoJ, but the finding is, for now, a positive step in the right direction --- at least for those of us conservative progressives who give a damn about unwarranted search and seizure, freedom of speech, etc. AP notes that "the FBI made 16,511 national-security-letter requests for information regarding 7,201 people in 2011" alone.

• A federal appeals court has re-instated a case filed by the ACLU arguing that the CIA must, at the very least, respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests concerning the use of the drone strikes. The FOIA requests in question had sought information on "the legal basis for carrying out targeted drone killings; any restrictions on those who may be targeted; any civilian casualties; any geographic limits on the program; the number of targeted killings that the agency has carried out; and the training, supervision, oversight, or discipline of drone operators." Even if the ACLU is ultimately victorious in this case, the CIA would not necessarily have to provide the information sought in those requests, but they would at least have to respond to them and state which responsive documents they may have and why they are not responding. The ACLU notes that the drone program "has already been responsible for the deaths of more than 4,000 people in an unknown number of countries."

After the two court rulings above on Friday, former Constitutional attorney and civil liberties champion Glenn Greenwald tweeted wryly: "Wow ... it's like we have a 3rd branch or something."

Much of this nation's government, all three branches, are largely stuck and broken in the muck and mire of partisan, corporate-sponsored quagmire or worse. So the fact that we had four important, not-horrible, arguably excellent things happen within that quagmire all on the same day on Friday are worth, at least, noting here for the record.

A session today at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) titled "Trump the Race Card: Are you Sick and Tired of Being Called a Racist and You Know You're Not One?", as sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots, didn't work out as well as organizers had planned. Or maybe it did.

Things fell apart at the year's most prestigious Republican event in DC, during questioning at the session by one white southern attendee who felt that his "people and culture" were being "systematically disenfranchised" by the federal government. It's a problem, he made clear, that "all the Tea Parties" were concerned about.

God bless the event's African-American presenter, K. Carl Smith, who tried to put out the fire (somehow) by explaining that Frederick Douglass had written a letter to his former slave master expressing his forgiveness.

"For what?," the attendee Scott Terry of North Carolina asked. "For feeding him and housing him?"

Clearly, Terry, who was sitting next to a friend in a Confederate flag t-shirt, was sick and tired of being called a racist when he --- like so many others in the oppressed minority that is the Republican Party --- knew he was not one.

 

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Dept. of Interior expands solar - again; Dept. of Energy expands nuclear - again; Just what is in that pope smoke?; PLUS: Sean (& Yoko) Lennon have a (fracking) message for NY's Governor ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Listen online here, or Download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link: Embed:

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): Metaphor for US oil addiction: Huge fire as oil barge crashes into gas pipeline; Double-duty desalination plant generates energy, clean water; Ryan budget proposal cuts clean energy research, public lands; Are methane hydrates the next big energy source?; Deadly bat fungus spreads to 22 states; Elephants get trade protection; U.S. sailors sue TEPCO over Fukushima ... PLUS: Top 10 effects of global warming on U.S. businesses ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Pope Smoke: The Recipe (Discovery News)
• Interior Department Expands Solar, Wind --- Again:
• U.S. Approves 1100 Megawatts of Wind, Solar Projects: (Bloomberg News):
  The U.S. approved three renewable- energy projects to be built on federal land in California and Nevada.
• Renewables Changing the Math of Energy Grid (ClimateCrocks.com):
  Ever wonder what an unraveling paradigm looks like? The energy revolution that has been building for the last decade is now beginning to eat away at the assumptions that underly our antique electrical grid.
• Solar Nearly Doubles in U.S. in One Year:
• U.S. Solar Grew 76% in 2012 Led by Utility-Scale Projects (Bloomberg)
• American Solar Power Broke Records Last Year (Climate Progress)
• Department of Energy Expands Nuclear --- Again:
• Obama Administration Placing Big Bet on Small Reactors (E & E News):
  The Obama administration is promoting a bold, long-range plan for building dozens of small, factory-built reactors capable of replacing coal-fired power plants that are expected to be retired in the coming decades, a Department of Energy official said yesterday.
• Feds Release Confidential Report on CA Nuke Plant (NY Times):
  The company that runs the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant sparred with environmental activists Friday over the details of a once-confidential report that shows industry engineers were aware of problems with steam quality inside equipment that later malfunctioned.
• Oil Industry & Republicans' Ad Campaign to Keep Taxpayer Subisidies:
• Oil-and-gas lobby starts ad campaign defending tax breaks (The Hill's E2 Wire):
  An oil-and-gas lobby group is launching a TV advertising campaign aimed at convincing lawmakers to keep their hands off tax incentives awarded to the industry.
• Carbon Tax Continues to Gain Cred. Deniers Worried. (ClimateCrocks.com):
  There are a few remaining rational actors in the Republican party, and they have a problem. They recognize that, as tarnished as their brand is now with young people, another 5 years of unmitigated climate change will cement the party's place in history alongside Nero, if that's not a done deal already....
• Help Henry Waxman Write a New Carbon Tax Bill (Grist)
• Sean Lennon Sings to Gov. Cuomo: "Don't Frack My Mother"
• VIDEO: "Don't Frack My Mother" (Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono & Friends via ClimateCrocks.com) (ClimateCrocks.com)





• Natural Gas Industry Drives a Construction Surge in Ohio (NY Times)
• Can Wind, Water and Sunlight Power New York by 2050? (NYT Dot Earth blog)

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

• A metaphor for US oil addiction: Huge fire as oil barge crashes into natural gas pipeline in Louisiana (Grist):
  A tugboat captain was among those injured after an oil barge crashed into a natural-gas pipeline south of New Orleans.
• London: A Billion For Bike Lanes (ClimateCrocks.com):
  The city of London is going big into bicycles...Here's a sampling of what you can do with £1 billion ($1.4 billion): A new 'Central London Grid' of bike routes in the City and West End, using segregation, quiet streets, and two-way cycling on one-way traffic streets...
• Nanotubes boost potential of salinity power as a renewable energy source (Gizmag):
  In November 2009, Norwegian state owned electricity company Starkraft opened the world's first osmotic power plant prototype, which generates electricity from the difference in the salt concentration between river water and sea water. While osmotic power is a clean, renewable energy source, its commercial use has been limited due to the low generating capacities offered by current technology... Now researchers have discovered a new way to harness osmotic power.
• Environmentalists Decry Paul Ryan Budget: (Huffington Post):
  Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday released his budget proposal calling for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and slashing the discretionary spending that helps protect Americans from climate-related threats.
• Senate Bill Would Boost Funding For NOAA Weather Satellites (Climate Central):
  Key weather and climate satellites would get a boost under a new Senate spending proposal.
• U.S. Sailors Sue Japan Nuclear Plant Owner, Say Fukushima Disaster Made Them Sick (Huffington Post):
  Within weeks of setting off a geiger counter and scrubbing three layers of skin off his hands and arms, former Navy quartermaster Maurice Enis recalled being pressured to sign away U.S. government liability for any future health problems.
• Are Methane Hydrates the Next Big Energy Source? (Washington Post):
  Japan has successfully extracted natural gas from methane hydrates ("fire ice") 1,000 feet below the seabed.
• Deadly Bat Fungus Now in 22 States, 5 Provinces (Scientific American Extinction Countdown blog):
  The white-nose syndrome fungus that is killing bats in their caves has now spread to 22 U.S. states and 5 Canadian provinces.
• Climate-Minded Shareholders Ask How Coal Fares if Regulations Tighten (InsideClimate News):
  Two advocacy groups have come up with a new tactic to show how climate change-and laws to deal with it-could make investments in fossil fuel companies riskier and rock financial markets.
• Governments Protect Rhinos, Elephants From Illegal Trade (Environment News Service):
  Governments extended greater protection to endangered rhinoceroses that are being slaughtered for their horns, which already are subject to an international trade ban. A record 668 South African rhinos were killed by poachers last year, and nearly 150 have died in 2013.
• CA: Fracking Fluid Suppliers Defend Trade Secrets on West Coast (E & E News):
  Makers of the specialty cocktails used to crack open the Earth and set loose gobs of oil and gas are sparring once again on behalf of their corner of the energy industry.
• Chemical and Gas Suppliers Battle Over LNG Exports (Chemical & Engineering News) [emphasis added]:
  The U.S. is in the midst of an energy transformation. Technologies that free fossil-fuel reserves, once trapped in shale, have radically shrunk natural gas imports. By 2020, the nation is expected to produce more gas than it needs. As the country approaches this milestone, it faces a question long asked in other countries with abundant energy resources: How much should we use at home and how much should we sell abroad?
• Top Ten Effects of Global Warming on Business (Triple Pundit):
  According to Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), "one thing is clear: businesses, governments and communities across the world need to plan for a warming world - not just 2C, but 4C or even 6C." Given this cheery prologue, what are the characteristics that businesses should be preparing for as we look forward to a destabilizing climate?
• Why carbon capture and storage will never pay off (Smart Planet)
• The Oil Leak in the Gulf We're Not Supposed to Know About (Triple Pundit):
  Six environmental groups have served a freedom-of-information lawsuit to the US Coast Guard in an attempt to learn more about an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that has been ongoing for eight years. The spill is allegedly coming from from a number of wells belonging to Taylor Energy.
• The New Sustainable Energy Factbook: A Strong Case for Consistent Policy (Bloomberg New Energy Finance, via ClimateProgress.org):
  The report provides a detailed account of the energy market for investors and policymakers making a strong case for the role of stable policies in leveling the playing field for clean energy technologies in the evolving energy landscape.

New Research: World on Track for Climate Disaster:

• COVER STORY: It's Global Warming, Stupid (Businessweek):
  If all that doesn't impress, forget the scientists ostensibly devoted to advancing knowledge and saving lives. Listen instead to corporate insurers committed to compiling statistics for profit.
• Ocean Acidification: Animals are already dissolving in Southern Ocean (New Scientist)
• Global warming targets further out of reach, UN says (Phys.org):
  Based on current pledges, global average temperatures could rise by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5.4 to 9.0 degrees Fahrenheit) this century --- way above the two degrees Celsius being targeted, said a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report.

Essential Climate Science Background:

• Skeptical Science: Get the FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Arguments
• VIDEO: James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change (TED Talks):
  Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about the future.
• VIDEO ANIMATION: Time history of atmospheric CO2 (NOAA Carbon Tracker YouTube channel):
• VIDEO: Animation Charts Modern Global Warming (NYT Green)
• Thinking Big: NREL Study Shows 80 Percent Renewables Possible By 2050 (Climate Progress)
• 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. ...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)
• How to Buy Time in the Fight against Climate Change: Mobilize to Stop Soot and Methane: A short list of relatively simple actions taken to reduce greenhouse gases other than CO2 could help put the brakes on global warming--if implemented globally (Scientific American)
• 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 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)
• The Real Global Warming Signal (Tamino)

Today on my KPFK/Pacifica Radio show --- after breaking the news about the newly elected Pope --- I interviewed Eugene Iredale, attorney of the former San Diego ACORN worker Juan Carlos Vera who received a $100,000 settlement from Rightwing con-artist James O'Keefe last week. (Vera also received $50,000 from O'Keefe's former partner Hannah Giles in a separate settlement last summer.)

Vera's California Invasion of Privacy Act lawsuit, filed in 2010, stemmed from O'Keefe and Giles' surreptitious wiretapping of a "confidential" conversation with Vera. The conversation (during which Vera played along to learn about the duo's pretend plot to smuggle underage prostitutes into the country, so he could turn them in to law enforcement) was then deceptively edited for misleading use in the infamous ACORN "pimp" hoax tapes published by Andrew Breitbart and blatantly misreported by New York Times, et al.

Iredale discussed O'Keefe's illegalities at the center of the suit; why other ACORN workers hadn't similarly sued the three con-artists; why Breitbart was not included in Vera's suit; why he didn't also sue for defamation; whether these settlements can be seen as a "victory"; and much more.

In the second part of today's BradCast, I offered my opinion ranted a bit on Justice Antonin Scalia's obnoxious, not-conservative, not-constitutionalist, activist attempt to legislate from the bench on the landmark Voting Rights Act during a recent Supreme Court hearing on the Act's important and ground-breaking Section 5 provision...

Download MP3 or listen online below...
[See post to listen to audio]

P.S. I invited O'Keefe to join today's show to offer his side of the story (live and not deceptively edited), but last night he seems to have decided he didn't "have the guts" to show up.

* * *Please support The BRAD BLOG's fiercely independent, award-winning coverage of your electoral system, as available from no other media outlet in the nation --- now in our TENTH YEAR! --- with a donation to help us keep going (Snail mail, more options here). If you like, we'll send you some great, award-winning election integrity documentary films in return! Details right here...

I'm prepping for my KPFK/Pacifica Radio show today, when I'll be joined by Eugene Iredale, the attorney for former San Diego ACORN worker Juan Carlos Vera who won a $100,000 settlement from federal criminal and professional liar James O'Keefe last week in an invasion of privacy lawsuit (and a $50,000 settlement from O'Keefe's former partner Hannah Giles last summer). You can listen live at 6pm ET / 3pm PT right here. [Update: Here's the interview...].

We will not be joined as well by O'Keefe himself, unfortunately, despite my invitations to him after his 'I'm the victim here!' tweets last week when news of the settlement broke. He had described media coverage of the settlement agreement as "lies and lies and more lies from journafascists" and attempted to taunt the media to "have the guts" to allow him to tell his side of the story. We took him up on that offer and invited him to appear on The BradCast today, live! Which is impossible to deceptively edit! (You're welcome, Jimmy!) But until late last night he didn't "have the guts" to even respond to my generous invitation.

After a second invite last night, however, I finally heard back from him...

"I'll appear on your show when you retract 'wiretapping' lie," he tweeted.

To which I quickly replied...

"Wiretapping" lie? This 1? bradblog.com/?p=7863 RT @jamesokeefeiii: @thebradblog I'll appear on ur show when u retract "wiretapping" lie.

— Brad Friedman (@TheBradBlog) March 13, 2013

While I was was replying, O'Keefe followed up with another zinger for me! "And retract your 'didn't pose as a pimp' lie," he demanded!

To which I replied, in turn...

"Didn't pose as a pimp" lie? This 1? bradblog.com/?p=7761 RT @jamesokeefeiii: @thebradblog and retract your "didn't pose as a pimp" lie.

— Brad Friedman (@TheBradBlog) March 13, 2013

My last follow-up was this...

Anything else u'd like to discuss, @jamesokeefeiii? (P.S. I ain't Fox, Breitbart or NYTimes. I actually FACT-CHECK ur nonsense first.)

— Brad Friedman (@TheBradBlog) March 13, 2013

Sadly, O'Keefe did not reply again. So I guess he won't be joining us today to set the record straight about the "lies and lies and more lies from journafascists" such as myself.

* * *Please support The BRAD BLOG's fiercely independent, award-winning coverage of your electoral system, as available from no other media outlet in the nation --- now in our TENTH YEAR! --- with a donation to help us keep going (Snail mail, more options here). If you like, we'll send you some great, award-winning election integrity documentary films in return! Details right here...

On Rachel Maddow's show last night, she opened with an interesting and lengthy segment on the difficulty of moving gun safety regulations through Congress over the years, even in the aftermath of JFK's assassination.

This chart, however, and the quick thoughts on it that followed, caught my eye. It's based on details from a new Washington Post poll released Tuesday, asking "Would you support or oppose a law requiring background checks on people buying guns at gun shows?"...

MADDOW: Universal background checks, it's at 91 [percent]. They're more popular than capitalism, Italian food and vacations. Universal background checks have 91% support, when nothing has 91% support.

When the Senate Judiciary Committee today moved a universal background checks bill --- they moved it through committee to send to a floor vote in the Senate later this week --- do you want to know how many Republicans voted for universal background checks on the committee? Zero. The vote was 10 to 8. All the Democrats vote in favor. All the Republicans voted against.

All the Republicans voted against something with 91% support among the public. Tell me how this ends for the Republican Party.

 

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Anti-nuke protesters mark 2nd anniversary of Fukushima disaster; Navy's top Pacific commander warns climate change is the biggest threat to national security; Is 'flammable ice' the next big energy source?; Forests move into warming Arctic; PLUS: Finally - score one for sharks ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Listen online here, or Download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link: Embed:

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): Fracking's Revolving Door Draws a Warning; Keystone environmental impact report skirts climate question; Bat-killing White Nose Syndrome spreads; Red tide kills 174 Florida manatees; Can wind, water and sunlight power New York by 2050?; Pacific NW: What coal-train dust means for human health ... PLUS: China: Public anger rises over secrecy on environment ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• VIDEO: Hilarious Conan Video Skewers Media Reporting On Gasoline Price Rise (Climate Progress)
• NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
• Anti-Nuke Protests on 2nd Fukushima Anniversary:
• Thousands in Japan anti-nuclear protest two years after Fukushima (Reuters)
• Fukushima two years on: the largest nuclear decommissioning finally begins: Question marks remain about the plant's safety, but the estimated $100bn, 40-year clean-up is now underway (Guardian UK)
• Flooding complicates clean-up at Japanese nuclear plant (Reuters)
• Two Years On, Fukushima Evacuees Seek Justice and a Normal Life (Japan Times)
• Depression And Anxiety Could Be Fukushima's Lasting Legacy (NPR)
• VIDEO: Fukushima anniversary: Tour inside nuclear power plant (BBC)
• VIDEO: Fukushima Meltdown's 2nd Anniversary Brings Protests Against Japan's Reliance on Nuclear Power (Democracy Now!)
• In U.S., nuclear energy loses momentum amid economic head winds, safety issues (Washington Post)
• Japan: Methane Hydrate Energy Breakthrough:
• Japan extracts gas from methane hydrate in world first (BBC) [emphasis added]:
  Japan says it has successfully extracted natural gas from frozen methane hydrate off its central coast, in a world first.
• Are methane hydrates the next big energy source? Japan hopes so. (Washington Post)
• More info on Methane Clathrates/Hydrates (Wikipedia)
• Forests Moving North into Arctic:
• Amplified Greenhouse Effect Shifts North's Growing Seasons (NASA Goddard) [emphasis added]:
  “It’s like Winnipeg, Manitoba, moving to Minneapolis-Saint Paul in only 30 years,” said co-author Compton Tucker of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
  ...
  However, researchers say plant growth in the north may not continue on its current trajectory. The ramifications of an amplified greenhouse effect, such as frequent forest fires, outbreak of pest infestations and summertime droughts, may slow plant growth.
• NASA: 30 years of global warming brings trees to the tundra (UPI): A new study of 30 years of satellite data shows vegetation moving northward as climatic conditions shift.
• Updated Hockey Stick Graph: Speed of Warming Unprecedented in 11k Years:
• Recent Heat Spike Like Nothing in 11,000 Years (AP):
  A new study looking at 11,000 years of climate temperatures shows the world in the middle of a dramatic U-turn, lurching from near-record cooling to a heat spike.
• Global temperatures are at a 4,000-year high (Grist)
• We're Screwed: 11,000 Years' Worth of Climate Data Prove It (The Atlantic)
• Global temps higher now than for most of past 11,300 years. It's not a hockey stick. This is a scythe. (Treehugger)
• CBS Ignores Study Finding Temperatures Are Highest In 4,000 Years (Media Matters)
• Atmospheric Warming Altering Ocean Salinity And The Water Cycle (Climate Progress):
  A clear change in salinity has been detected in the world's oceans, signaling shifts and acceleration in the global rainfall and evaporation cycle tied directly to climate change.
• Atmospheric CO2 Jumps to 395ppm:
• Big One-Year Jump In Atmospheric CO2 Brings Climate Catastrophe Closer (Climate Progress)
• Scientist Rebukes Latest "Factually Wrong" Attempt To Deny Climate Change: News That Rising Emissions Could Lead To Dire Warming Should Prompt Action, Not Denial (Media Matters)
• Study of Ice Age Bolsters Carbon and Warming Link (NY Times):
  A meticulous new analysis of Antarctic ice suggests that the sharp warming that ended the last ice age occurred in lock step with increases of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the latest of many indications that the gas is a powerful influence on the earth's climate.
• Navy: Climate Change Biggest Threat to National Security:
• Chief of US Pacific forces calls climate biggest worry (Boston Globe) [emphasis added]:
  America’s top military officer in charge of monitoring hostile actions by North Korea, escalating tensions between China and Japan, and a spike in computer attacks traced to China provides an unexpected answer when asked what is the biggest long-term security threat in the Pacific region: climate change.
• VIDEO: Chief of US Pacific forces: Climate Change Top Threat (Climate Crocks)
• Score One for Sharks (and manta rays):
• Sharks, rays win new trade protections (Washington Post):
  Historically, many nations have been reluctant to protect marine species that are in high demand for health remedies and culinary delicacies, primarily in Asia. But faced with scientific evidence that these species risk becoming extinct, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) voted in Bangkok to place trade limits on shark species for the first time in nearly a decade.M
• CITES meeting votes to protect Oceanic whitetip shark (BBC)
• 'Historic' day for shark protection (BBC)

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

• Fracking's Revolving Door Draws a Warning: (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette):
  Many of Pennsylvania's policymakers, regulators and enforcement workers have come from the oil and gas industry they oversee, or they leave state jobs for industry jobs, according to a recent report that questions the impacts of such a "revolving door" on public policy decisions.
• China: Public anger rises over secrecy on environment (Reuters):
  When China's environment ministry told attorney Dong Zhengwei he couldn't have access to two-year old data about soil pollution because it was a 'state secret', it added to mounting public outrage over the worsening environment.
• Keystone environmental impact report skirts central question of Natl Enviro Policy Act, lawyers say (Inside Climate)
• Bat-killing White Nose Syndrome spreads to South Carolina, Georgia (Scientific American)
• Red tide kills 174 Florida manatees; more deaths likely (Miami Herald)
• Natural Gas Industry Drives a Construction Surge in Ohio (NY Times)
• Can Wind, Water and Sunlight Power New York by 2050? (NYT Dot Earth blog)
• San Onofre nuclear plant's flawed steam generators (LA Times)
• Pacific NW: What coal-train dust means for human health: (KUOW/EarthFix):
  With five coal export terminals under consideration in Washington and Oregon, Northwest residents are grappling for the first time with issues that are old hat in coal states like West Virginia and Kentucky. One of those issues: coal dust.
• CA Coastal Commission Nixes Navy Offshore Explosives Training Plan (Washington Post):
  The California Coastal Commission on Friday rejected a Navy explosives and sonar training program off the Southern California coast that critics said could harm endangered blue whales and other sea life.
• Don't Worry: Keystone XL Pipeline Would Be Safe From The Climate Impacts It Would Cause (Climate Progress)
• Why carbon capture and storage will never pay off (Smart Planet)
• Infections With 'Nightmare Bacteria' Are On The Rise In U.S. Hospitals (NPR)
• Pesticides are killing our sperm (Grist):
  George Washington University researchers pored over 17 scientific studies that were published between 2007 and 2012 and reported in the journal Toxicology that 15 of them found "significant associations between exposure to pesticides and semen quality indicators."
• The New Sustainable Energy Factbook: A Strong Case for Consistent Policy (Bloomberg New Energy Finance, via Climate Progress.org):
  The report provides a detailed account of the energy market for investors and policymakers making a strong case for the role of stable policies in leveling the playing field for clean energy technologies in the evolving energy landscape.

New Research: World on Track for Climate Disaster:

• COVER STORY: It's Global Warming, Stupid (Businessweek):
  Yes, yes, it's unsophisticated to blame any given storm on climate change. Men and women in white lab coats tell us-and they're right-that many factors contribute to each severe weather episode. Climate deniers exploit scientific complexity to avoid any discussion at all.
  ...
  If all that doesn't impress, forget the scientists ostensibly devoted to advancing knowledge and saving lives. Listen instead to corporate insurers committed to compiling statistics for profit.
• CO2 Emissions Rises Mean Dangerous Climate Change Now Almost Certain (Guardian)
• Study: Sea Levels Rising 60% Faster Than Projected, Planet Keeps Warming As Expected (Climate Progress)
• Ocean Acidification: Animals are already dissolving in Southern Ocean (New Scientist)
• Global warming targets further out of reach, UN says (Phys.org):
  Based on current pledges, global average temperatures could rise by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5.4 to 9.0 degrees Fahrenheit) this century --- way above the two degrees Celsius being targeted, said a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report.
• Thawing of permafrost to be 'major factor' in global warming, warns UN report (UN News Centre)
• Must-Read: Economist William Nordhaus Slams Global Warming Deniers, Explains Cost of Delay is $4 Trillion (Climate Progress):
  Nordhaus's blunt piece - "Why the Global Warming Skeptics Are Wrong" - is worth reading because he is no climate hawk.

Essential Climate Science Background:

• Skeptical Science: Get the FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Arguments
• Report: Humans near tipping point that could dramatically change Earth (CS Monitor) [emphasis added]:
  Human activity is affecting Earth in many ways, but a new study suggests that continued population growth and its impact on climate and ecology could trigger a more profound chain reaction of effects within little more than a decade.
• VIDEO: James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change (TED Talks):
  Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about the future.
• VIDEO ANIMATION: Time history of atmospheric CO2 (NOAA Carbon Tracker YouTube channel):
• VIDEO: Animation Charts Modern Global Warming (NYT Green)
• Thinking Big: NREL Study Shows 80 Percent Renewables Possible By 2050 (Climate Progress)
• 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)
• How to Buy Time in the Fight against Climate Change: Mobilize to Stop Soot and Methane: A short list of relatively simple actions taken to reduce greenhouse gases other than CO2 could help put the brakes on global warming--if implemented globally (Scientific American)
• 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... "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)
• The Real Global Warming Signal (Tamino)
• No, global warming hasn't stopped (New Scientist)
• VIDEO: Climate Scientists Michael Mann on "A Look Into Our Climate: Past To Present To Future" (TEDx, YouTube)
• Earth's Plant Growth Fell Because of Climate Change, Study Finds (NYT Green)
• 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?

Pretend journalist and Republican activist Hannah Giles agreed to pay $50,000 to former San Diego ACORN worker Juan Carlos Vera as a part of a legal settlement struck last summer in response to an invasion of privacy lawsuit filed against her and her former partner James O'Keefe, Vera's attorney Eugene Iredale has confirmed to The BRAD BLOG.

Last week, in a scoop by the website Wonkette, it was disclosed that O'Keefe, a federal criminal and professional liar, agreed to pay $100,000 in his own legal settlement with the same former ACORN employee, after heading up the scheme to secretly videotape him in violation of California's Invasion of Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 632).

O'Keefe and Giles' illicit taping of Vera was carried out as part of the deceptively edited series of hit videos released by the pair in 2009. The tapes were published, and paid for, by the late con-man Andrew Breitbart. Vera had been portrayed in the misleading video as having been willing to help the pair smuggle underage prostitutes into the United States across the Mexican border. In fact, Vera had played along with the duo's ridiculous proposed scheme only long enough to collect information from O'Keefe and Giles (and take their photographs), before contacting law enforcement immediately after the secretly video-taped meeting.

Giles played the role of a prostitute in the ACORN "pimp" hoax videos. O'Keefe played her boyfriend. O'Keefe did not play the part of a "pimp", as he had knowingly misrepresented in both the videos and to the public, and as repeatedly misreported by the bulk of the mainstream media at the time, and even still today.

During the course of Vera's lawsuit, it was revealed that Breitbart, who died in March of 2012, had agreed to pay the pair some $120,000 for their hoax tapes in $5,000 monthly installments to each. O'Keefe ended up collecting $65,000 before he was terminated around the time of his CNN "Sex Boat" scandal in September of 2010. Giles' payments, on the other hand, were reduced from $5,000 month to $3,000 at some point, before being terminated for what she described, according to Vera's attorney, as "a conflict of visions".

Accordingly, Giles only ended up collecting $32,000 from Breitbart, but thanks to the settlement last Summer, she was forced to hand all of that, plus $18,000 more, over to Vera.

Despite the real facts of the Vera case being known since at least April of 2010 --- when a criminal investigation by the California Attorney General found "no criminality" by Vera or any of the other ACORN employees seen in the videos --- the original stories on the hoax videos remain published on the Breitbart website without correction, as we noted in our detailed report on O'Keefe's settlement with Vera last week.

As we reported once again at the time, every official law enforcement investigation on the matter --- including those by the former MA Attorney General [PDF], by the Kings County, NY District Attorney, and by the CA Attorney General --- determined that there were no violations of law performed by any ACORN worker as seen in any of the several surreptitiously taped videos. Each official investigation found that the tapes were "highly" and "deceptively" edited to present a false case against ACORN.

O'Keefe had attempted to fight for dismissal of Vera's July 2010 lawsuit but lost in court on every attempt to do so. While it took O'Keefe until this past week to see the writing on the wall and finally agree to settle with Vera, Giles was smart enough to settle her own part of the lawsuit with Vera last Summer. Giles' settlement agreement had been reported by Dave Maass of the San Diego City Beat at the time, but the conditions of that settlement and Giles' agreement to pay out $50,000 to the former ACORN worker had not been known.

Asked during his sworn deposition why he didn't attempt to confirm the false story given to him by Vera before publishing his videos tapes, O'Keefe, who still pretends to be a "journalist", explained: "I did want to follow up. I just didn't end up following up"...

After those revelations, it appeared likely that Breitbart might have been pulled into Vera's lawsuit and named as a defendant as well. Moreover, he might have even faced criminal liability in the matter.

For their part, O'Keefe and Giles received criminal immunity from the CA Attorney General in exchange for providing the office with the previously unreleased, unedited versions of the video tapes. The AG's probe found no violations of the law by ACORN workers, but the report did note that the secret recordings appeared to be in violation of CA's Privacy Act. While the immunity deal spared the duo from criminal prosecution for violation of that law in the state, it did not protect them against civil enforcement of the act, such as that brought by Vera. Nor did it protect Breitbart, who, it was discovered through depositions from O'Keefe and Giles in the lawsuit, had prior knowledge of the illicit video taping at several ACORN offices in California. He could have been charged with a criminal violation of CA law, as well as being named as a defendant in Vera's suit.

Vera says that the video tapes, widely promoted by Rightwing outlets such as Fox "News" (and many non-Rightwing outlets as well) without any fact-checking whatsoever, resulted in tarnishing his reputation. He says he has had difficulty finding work ever since.

"My reputation was in the garbage," he told MSNBC's Ed Schultz last week in broken English, adding that while the settlement could be seen as a victory, he felt "sad" because ACORN, who had "very good programs", was put out of business after the O'Keefe/Giles/Breitbart campaign.

ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, had been a four-decade old nationwide non-profit group dedicated to fighting against predatory lending practices and assisting millions of low- and middle-income American families in obtaining housing loans as well as participate in their democracy by legally registering to vote. Vera was just one of tens of thousands of employees who lost their jobs as a result of the Rightwing political hit job on the organization which was forced to shut its door in the wake of the manufactured scandal.

Since news of O'Keefe's settlement with Vera broke last week, the Rightwing grifter has taken to his website and Twitter in an attempt to claim his innocence, despite the settlement.

He described media coverage of the settlement agreement as "lies and lies and more lies from journafascists" and attempted to taunt the media to "have the guts" to allow him to tell his side of the story. We took him up on that offer and invited him to appear on our KPFK/Pacifica Radio show this Wednesday. O'Keefe has yet to "have the guts" to even respond to our invitation.

* * *

CORRECTION: This article has been updated to more accurately describe the payments received by Giles from Breitbart after the ACORN scam. She had initially been slated to receive $60,000 from Breitbart, as we initially reported, but only ended up receiving $32,000 of that before parting ways with Breitbart, according to details said to have been offered during the discovery phase of the Vera case.

* * *Please support The BRAD BLOG's fiercely independent, award-winning coverage of your electoral system, as available from no other media outlet in the nation --- now in our TENTH YEAR! --- with a donation to help us keep going (Snail mail, more options here). If you like, we'll send you some great, award-winning election integrity documentary films in return! Details right here...

This exchange --- by Congressional committee proxy --- got a bit more buried than it deserved to be amidst a week of important (Rand Paul's drone filibuster) and not so important (Presidential/Congressional dinner dates!) news items last week.

You may have already seen both of these clips. But just in case you haven't, the remarks made during two different Congressional hearings last week illustrate the very heart of the most broken part of our broken government, so I wanted to be sure to at least flag these two short videos here.

The first was Attorney General Eric Holder's remarkable admission last week, when asked about why one the world's largest banks, such as HSBC --- which admitted to some $881 million dollars in drug cartel money laundering and working with regimes in a number of countries around the world in blatant violation of human rights sanctions against them --- have not been brought to trial by the Obama Dept. of Justice...

"The concern that you have raised is one that I, frankly, share," Holder responded to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-NE). "I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. And I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large."

"It has an inhibiting influence --- impact --- on our ability to bring resolutions that I think would be more appropriate," he continued. "So, the concern that you raise is actually one that I share."

With all due respect to AG Holder --- and he is due very, very little --- what he just said is, to the best of my knowledge, complete bullshit. While I'm not an expert in financial law, I am familiar with no clause in any of those laws which offers a "get out of jail free card" to institutions who have become so large that prosecuting them would have "a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy."

I know of no provisions in the criminal code which says that if your corporation has become large enough that facing criminal prosecution might make the world markets jittery, you don't have to face prosecution for those crimes. In fact, we still have anti-trust laws on the books to deal with exactly those situations --- cases in which corporations have become so powerful, have such a monopolistic effect on the market, that they may be broken up by the Dept. of Justice, or even taken over and then sold off piece meal to bring the company back into manageable size again.

The next day, in another U.S. Senate hearing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), expressed a similar sentiment, in a must-see video clip, absolutely slamming U.S. Treasury regulators for their lack of willingness to take action against some of the most criminal corporations, such as HSBC.

"What does it take to get you to consider shutting down a bank for money laundering?!," she asked the regulators who couldn't respond as to the last time a bank had been prosecuted for this sort of thing. "How many billions of dollars before somebody says we're shutting you down?"...

Huffington Post's Mark Gongloff described the testy exchange this way [emphasis added]:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren unloaded on bank regulators Thursday about the fact that British bank HSBC is still doing business in the U.S., with no criminal charges filed against it, despite confessing to what one regulator called "egregious" money laundering violations.
...
During a Senate Banking Committee hearing about money laundering, Warren (D-Mass.) grilled officials from the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency about why HSBC, which recently paid $1.9 billion to settle money laundering charges, wasn't criminally prosecuted and shut down in the U.S. Nor were any individuals from HSBC charged with any crimes, despite the bank confessing to laundering billions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels and rogue regimes like Iran and Libya over several years.

Defenders of the Justice Department say that a criminal conviction could have been a death penalty for the bank, causing widespread damage to the economy. Warren wanted to know why the death penalty wasn't warranted in this case.

"They did it over and over and over again across a period of years. And they were caught doing it, warned not to do it and kept right on doing it, and evidently making profits doing it," Warren said of HSBC. "How many billions of dollars do you have to launder for drug lords and how many economic sanctions do you have to violate before someone will consider shutting down a financial institution like this?"
...
"If you're caught with an ounce of cocaine, the chances are good you're gonna go to jail. If it happens repeatedly, you may go to jail for the rest of your life," Warren said. "But evidently if you launder nearly a billion dollars for drug cartels and violate our international sanctions, your company pays a fine and you go home and sleep in your bed at night --- every single individual associated with this. And I think that's fundamentally wrong."

Back in late 2011, The BRAD BLOG's legal analyst Ernie Canning cited the observation of Law Professor Paul Campos who noted that the U.S. today has not merely strayed from its guiding principle of Equal Justice Under Law but has adopted "a two-tiered system of laws" where, for the vast majority of citizens, "an unusually harsh criminal code" has given rise to "by far the biggest prison population in the world," yet "our political and financial elites operate with something approaching complete impunity."

That's what's going on here. That's what we're dealing with. And there seems that there is precious little being done about it, by anyone at this point, other than an occasional primal scream from Sen. Warren now that she has (thankfully) taken her place on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.

But this entire fine mess, in a nutshell, is exactly what's wrong with our broken system, and why it's an embarrassment that a guy like Eric Holder is remaining on for a second term with the Obama Administration.

Appearing on MSNBC's The Ed Show on Friday night, Eugene Iredale, the attorney for former San Diego ACORN worker Juan Carlos Vera, made short work of the chiseling claim made by federal criminal and professional liar James O'Keefe, that he had agreed to pay Vera $100,000 simply to bring to a close a "ridiculous lawsuit."

"If he wants to get out of the settlement and wants to fight us in court," Iredale told host Ed Schultz in response to O'Keefe's fundraising bluster, "we're ready any time. We can go right now!"

O'Keefe agreed last week to settle the lawsuit filed by Vera in July of 2010 against him and his partner Hannah Giles. Vera had been fired by ACORN after deceptively edited video tapes of him, secretly recorded by O'Keefe and his partner Hannah Giles, were published by Andrew Breitbart in 2009. While the edited tapes made it appear as though Vera, whose English is poor, was interested in cooperating in a scheme to smuggle underage prostitutes across the Mexican border, in reality, Vera had played along with the pair in order to gain information, including taking their photos, and then immediately notified law enforcement about the ridiculous scheme O'Keefe and Giles were proposing.

After word of the settlement with Vera leaked to Wonkette's Matthew Phelan and Liz Farkas last week, O'Keefe took to Twitter to play the victim, describing his payout to Vera as the necessary result of a "nuisance lawsuit".

"Sadly, this is the cost of exposing the truth," he explained to his gullible fundraising base in a statement posted to his ironically named Project Veritas website late last week. "That's why so few people do it. There are liability issues inherent in undercover journalism."

Many of those paying attention to this long shameful saga would be right in responding in turn: "Um, what 'journalism'"?!

O'Keefe continued his post-settlement Twitter tantrum to describe media coverage of his settlement agreement as "lies and lies and more lies from journafascists," taunting them to "have the guts" to allow him to respond on TV.

The BRAD BLOG's Brad Friedman responded to O'Keefe in turn with an invitation to appear live with him on his KPFK/Pacfica Radio show this coming Wednesday, at which time he could, among other things, explain how deceptively edited videotapes deserve to be labeled "journalism" or why he describes Vera's complaint as "meritless accusations". O'Keefe has yet to respond to the invitation...

The Ed Show, Iredale pointed out that O'Keefe's secret recordings, not only of Vera, but at various ACORN locations in California, violated a criminal statute (CA Penal Code Section 632).

He also alleged that O'Keefe and anti-abortion activist Lila Rose violated the same statute in relation to another phony video sting that was part of a long-standing effort by the right wing Christian fundamentalist Rose to "take out" an Planned Parenthood, which, as the group noted after informing federal authorities about the bizarre visits to offices in six states in early 2011, "delivers preventive health care and abortion services to three million women each year."

As reported by Right Wing Watch, the O'Keefe/Rose Planned Parenthood child sex trafficking hoax, like O'Keefe's fraudulent ACORN pimp hoax before it, failed to produce any evidence of any illegalities on the part of Planned Parenthood. The organization reported the possibility of a child sex trafficking ring via a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The O'Keefe/Rose nationwide "sting" netted a single employee, who failed to follow that organization's procedures. That employee was fired.

A critical point made during The Ed Show was that O'Keefe was not the only one who smeared Vera's and ACORN's reputations. All three, Vera, Iredale and Schultz, pointed to the active role played by O'Keefe's partner, Hannah Giles, the late Andrew Breitbart (his employer at the time) and to the forum repeatedly provided for these deceitful smear merchants by Fox "News".

* * *

UPDATE 3/12/13: The BRAD BLOG confirms Giles paid Vera $50,000 in her own settlement with him last summer.

* * *

Our detailed coverage of the O'Keefe/Vera settlement last week is here. Video interview of Juan Carlos Vera and his attorney Eugene Iredale on MSNBC's The Ed Show on 3/8/2013, after Vera's $100,000 settlement agreement with James O'Keefe, follows below. [NOTE TO SCHULTZ: No, O'Keefe never "posed as a pimp" during the ACORN encounters. That claim was also just a part of the overall hoax]...

* * *Ernest A. Canning has been an active member of the California state bar since 1977. Mr. Canning has received both undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science as well as a juris doctor. He is also a Vietnam vet (4th Infantry, Central Highlands 1968). Follow him on Twitter: @Cann4ing.

[Hat-tip BRAD BLOG reader "LL".]

The folks at Current TV's Viewpoint tell me host (and pal) John Fugelsang featured one of my Rand Paul-related tweets on the air Thursday night.

But more importantly, the point of that tweet seems to have made it into the heart of Fugelsang's rather brilliant --- and rhyming! --- Rand rant that same night. He stands with Rand...but not all of his plan...man...

Former San Diego ACORN worker, Juan Carlos Vera will receive $100,000 in a settlement from federal criminal and professional liar James O'Keefe, after being secretly video-taped in violation of California law by the Rightwing propagandist. The tape was just one in a series of similar videos, all deceptively edited as part of his 2009 ACORN "pimp" hoax series.

The story of the settlement to Vera's July 2010 civil lawsuit was originally broken by Wonkette, which published the 3-page settlement document [PDF], yesterday.

Several different official investigations, including those by the former MA Attorney General [PDF], by the Kings County, NY District Attorney, and by the CA Attorney General all determined that there were no violations of law performed by any ACORN worker seen in the several surreptitiously taped videos. The officials found the tapes were "highly" and "deceptively" edited.

The ACORN "pimp" hoax videos were published originally by the late Republican con-man Andrew Breitbart who, before he died of heart failure just over one year ago, was likely to have been pulled in to the civil case as well, after O'Keefe disclosed in his deposition that Breitbart had advance knowledge of the scheme to secretly video tape workers in violation of CA's Invasion of Privacy Act.

After Breitbart's publication, the edited tapes were widely covered, without fact-checking, in both the Rightwing media such as Fox "News" and non-Rightwing media such as the New York Times. The Times was eventually forced to issue partial-corrections for their inaccurate reporting after a six month effort by The BRAD BLOG to point out how they'd been duped by O'Keefe, who had lied about appearing as a 70s era blaxploitation "pimp" in the offices of ACORN.

A 2010 investigation by the CA Attorney General determined there was "no criminality" by ACORN workers seen in any of the raw video tapes. O'Keefe and his partner Hannah Giles agreed to turn over the unedited tapes in exchange for immunity from criminal prosecution in the state. "The evidence illustrates that things are not always as partisan zealots portray them through highly selective editing of reality," California's then AG Jerry Brown said in a statement accompanying the release of his office's investigation which "involved attorneys from all three legal divisions – Criminal Law, Public Rights, and Civil Law – as well as Special Agents from the Department’s Bureau of Investigation and Intelligence."

"Sometimes a fuller truth is found on the cutting room floor," he added.

While the deal left the AG's office unable to prosecute the duo, the criminal investigation found that O'Keefe and Giles likely violated the civil provisions of CA's Privacy Act and could be sued under those provisions "for recording a confidential conversation without consent." Vera, who, after his odd meeting with O'Keefe and Giles had the wherewithal to contact the police, sued both of them in July of 2010 for violations of the act...

Giles had the common sense to settle with Vera last summer after a string of losses in court. [Update: The BRAD BLOG confirms she agreed to pay $50,000 to Vera in that settlement.] O'Keefe, on the other hand, attempted to argue a First Amendment privilege as a "journalist" to secretly video tape Vera. Judge M. James Lorenz soundly rejected the argument in May of 2011, but O'Keefe persisted in his unsuccessful defense.

O'Keefe now finally faces at least some accountability in the settlement, which, in addition to agreeing to pay $100,000 to the former ACORN employee, notes that he "regrets any pain suffered by Mr. Vera or his family."

Thousands of ACORN workers were left unemployed by the O'Keefe/Giles/Breitbart stunt after the U.S. Congress also fell for it. In 2009, shortly after the deceptively edited tapes were released, they passed legislation, signed by President Obama, that federally defunded the four-decade old community organization which had advocated to end predatory lending practices and helped millions of low- and middle-income Americans obtain housing loans and legally register to vote. The group was forced to shut its door in the wake of the manufactured scandal.

While O'Keefe, Giles and Breitbart helped perpetrate the long held GOP lie that ACORN was involved in voter fraud, there is not one piece of known evidence to demonstrate that even one illegal vote was ever cast thanks to an improper registration by any of the organization's tens of thousands of voter registration workers.

The only question now: Will any of those other ACORN workers who were improperly fired due to O'Keefe's illegal, secret video tapes file suit against him as well?

* * *

UPDATE 2:27pm PT: Conor Friedersdorf's coverage of the Vera/O'Keefe settlement over at The Atlantic points out that, to this day, Breitbart's fake "news" site, where the fake ACORN stories were originally published, still has the original inaccurate story sliming Vera --- published as is, with no correction, even though it was long ago debunked as nonsense, and even since O'Keefe has agreed to apologize and pay him $100,000 in the settlement as described above.

Writes Friedersdorf:

After making Vera look like an eager would-be sex trafficker, what did Breitbart and O'Keefe do when it was reported that he had in fact called the police? What did they do when the California Attorney General investigated the case and affirmed as much? Did they append a correction to the story and apologize? Did they do what they could to give this man back his reputation?

They did not.

When last I wrote about this story in 2010, long after all the facts had come to light, there was no correction appended to the story. And look at the page today: The original story is still up with no correction, no clarification, no editor's note --- nothing.

The other stories in the ACORN series, similarly found to be nonsense, some of them almost immediately after publication, have also yet to be corrected. This one, for instance, made the case that an ACORN worker in San Bernardino had killed her husband. Yet, within hours of its publication, San Bernardino police had investigated and issued a statement including this important point: "From the initial investigation conducted, the claims do not appear to be factual. Investigators have been in contact with the involved party's known former husbands, who are alive and well."

Nonetheless, that original, if phony, story remains at the site, uncorrected even today, though the video itself is no longer embedded:

There were, however, quite literally, hundreds of stories posted about all of these phony videos on Breitbart's sites. The fake ACORN exposé was the one that Breitbart used on the day he premiered his original "Big Government" site. It's what launched him into the stratosphere of pretend Rightwing "journalists". ("Big Journalism", "Big Hollywood" and other "Big" sites quickly followed and all carried the ACORN videos and a great deal of commentary about them. They have all been folded into one place --- breaking many links in the process --- at Breitbart.com since then.) If Breitbart was to issue corrections, as a legitimate news sites would, they would have to issue literally hundreds, if not thousands of them across their site. That's just one reason they will likely never do so.

For example, Hannah Giles' October 28, 2009 story "LAMESTREAM MEDIA: WHY DID YOU BYPASS THESE JUICY ACORN NUGGETS?", in which she describes the San Bernardino ACORN worker having "shot her husband" (more than a month after it was known that she did no such thing), and Juan Carlos Vera having "want[ed] to help smuggle girls across the Mexican border right after an ACORN-sponsored immigration parade", which was also nonsense, as the settlements with Vera by both Giles and O'Keefe now attest, are still posted at the Breitbart site without correction or retraction.

That, of course, is because they have since moved on to publishing other phony stories, sliming other people, which they have similarly failed to correct or apologize for.

* * *Please support The BRAD BLOG's fiercely independent, award-winning coverage of your electoral system, as available from no other media outlet in the nation --- now in our TENTH YEAR! --- with a donation to help us keep going (Snail mail, more options here). If you like, we'll send you some great, award-winning election integrity documentary films in return! Details right here...

 

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Obama's Interior nominee promises "balanced" use of public lands; Extreme weather forces Republicans to cancel climate science denial hearing; Colorado city defies Governor, bans fracking; Conflict of interest in State Dept's glowing Keystone XL pipeline report; PLUS: Hottest summer ever on record in Australia ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Listen online here, or Download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link: Embed:

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): Why are sinkholes swallowing Florida?; 'Carbon capture and storage will never pay off'; Jump In atmospheric CO2 brings climate catastrophe closer; U.S. clean energy trade surplus with China; Climate change will open up surprising new Arctic shipping routes; Ice Age study bolsters CO2 and warming link; CA town requires all new homes to have solar power; GOP legislator seeks a new carbon tax on bicycle riders; Infections with 'Nightmare Bacteria' on the rise in U.S. hospitals ... PLUS: Don't Worry: Keystone XL pipeline would be safe from the climate impacts it would cause ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• VIDEO: "Snowquester": Winter Storm Saturn sweeps the country, but the media has a much better name for it. (Colbert Report)
• Daylight Savings Time Coming (But It Doesn't Save Energy):
• Let's Not Spring Forward: Even cows don't like Daylight Saving Time. (Scientific American)
• Does Daylight Saving Time Conserve Energy?: Recent studies shed some light on the efficiency of seasonally changing the clocks (Scientific American)
• Whitehouse.gov Petition to 'Eliminate the bi-annual time change caused by Daylight Savings Time' (FARK.com)
• Fort Collins Defies Governor, Bans Fracking:
• Threat of Colorado lawsuit looms as fracking ban OK'd in Fort Collins (Denver Post)
• Businesses surprised to see their names on pro-fracking petition (Fort Collins Coloradoan)
• VIDEO: Gov. John Hickenlooper: State Will Sue Any City In Colorado That Bans Fracking (CBS Denver):






• Sally Jewell, Interior Nominee, Promises "Balanced" Use of Public Lands:
• VIDEO: Secretary of the Interior nominee Sally Jewell's opening statement (Politico)
• VIDEO: Full Confirmation Hearing for Sally Jewell to be Interior Secretary (C-SPAN)
• Sally Jewell's Energy Strategy: Interior Secretary Nominee Pledges Balanced Approeach (Huffington Post)
• Obama Interior Pick Championed Outdoor Jobs Over Oil (Bloomberg News)
• Jewell expresses support for using Antiquities Act as Interior Secretary (Idaho Statesman)
• Despite Industry Efforts To Blame Administration, There’s A Geologic Reason Most Drilling Occurs On Nonfederal Lands: i.e., that's not where the fossil fuels are (Climate Progress)
• Extreme Weather Forces Republicans to Cancel Climate Science Denial Hearing:
• House Committee Cancels Climate Denier Hearing — Because Of The Weather (Climate Progress):
  Ever since Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) first took over as chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, the climate denier and Koch Industries beneficiary has planned a hearing to “review” climate science. But on Wednesday, a major snowstorm in Washington, D.C. put the hearing, which was stacked with climate deniers, on hold.
• Snowquestration: How D.C. Fits In With The 'Less Snow, More Blizzards' Pattern (Climate Progress)
• Climate contradiction: Less [overall] snow, more blizzards (USA Today)
• Keystone XL Contractor Wrote State's Sunny Environment Impact Report:
• Critical Part of Keystone Report Done by Firms with Deep Oil Industry Ties (InsideClimate.org):
  Two consulting firms provided State Department with key analysis of whether the pipeline would speed development of Canada's oil sands.
• ‘State Department’ Keystone XL Report Actually Written By TransCanada Contractor (Grist):
  The “sustainability consultancy” Environmental Resources Management (ERM) was paid an undisclosed amount under contract to TransCanada to write the statement [PDF], which is now an official government document.
• Report May Ease Path for New Pipeline (NY Times)
• VIDEO: Van Jones: Keystone XL would be 'the Obama Pipeline' (Grist)
• State Dept. on Keystone XL: So not a big deal (Grist)
• Hottest Summer Ever on Record for Australia:
  • VIDEO: Australia enters 'new climatic territory': Climate Commission (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):
    Prof. Tim Flannery, Australia Climate Commission: "[W]hen you get records being broken at that scale, you can start to see a shifting from one climate system to another. So the climate has in one sense actually changed and we are now entering a new series of climatic conditions that we just haven't seen before."
  • Australia's record-breaking hottest summer (Guardian UK):
    January was the hottest month since records began in 1910 - it's getting hotter, and extreme heat is happening more often
  • Australia's climate 'on steroids' after record-breaking summer (Telegraph UK):
    Australia's weather went "on steroids" over a summer that saw an unprecedented heatwave, bushfires and floods, the head of the country's Climate Commission has said, warning that global warming would only make things worse.

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

• Don't Worry: Keystone XL Pipeline Would Be Safe From The Climate Impacts It Would Cause (Climate Progress)
• Follow the latest from the BP Oil Spill Trial at The New Orleans Times-Picayune (Main Page)
• Why Sinkholes Are Eating Florida (Discovery News):
  To slake a thirsty state's population, Florida has been aggressively pumping out groundwater, destabilizing its limestone bedrock and contributing to the growing number of sinkholes, according to a USGS report.
• Big One-Year Jump In Atmospheric CO2 Brings Climate Catastrophe Closer (Climate Progress)
• Scientist Rebukes Latest "Factually Wrong" Attempt To Deny Climate Change: News That Rising Emissions Could Lead To Dire Warming Should Prompt Action, Not Denial (Media Matters)
• Why carbon capture and storage will never pay off (Smart Planet)
• Advantage America: New Report Reveals U.S. Clean Energy Trade Surplus with China in 2011 (Pew Environment):
  The United States and China traded more than $8.5 billion worth of clean energy goods and services in 2011, the latest year for which data are available. According to a report released today by The Pew Charitable Trusts, U.S. companies enjoyed a $1.63 billion sales advantage over their Chinese counterparts.
• Climate change will open up surprising new Arctic shipping routes (Washington Post)
• NY Assembly Passes Two Year Fracking Moratorium, Senate Expected to Follow (EcoWatch)
• Study of Ice Age Bolsters Carbon and Warming Link (NY Times):
  A meticulous new analysis of Antarctic ice suggests that the sharp warming that ended the last ice age occurred in lock step with increases of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the latest of many indications that the gas is a powerful influence on the earth's climate.
• Developed Nations Must Cut Emissions In Half By 2020, Says New Study
• Insurance only part of disaster resilience, says climate change panel (Guardian UK):
  Expert warns that people should not be seduced by disaster insurance, saying it is not a panacea for weather-related shocks
• Renewable rules: Lancaster, Calif., requires all new homes to have solar power (Mother Nature News):
  Led by a solar-loving Republican mayor and blessed with plenty of sunshine, this Mojave Desert city will require all new single-family homes to be equipped with solar starting in 2014.
• State legislator seeks a new carbon tax on bicycle riders (1787 Network):
  On March 2, an email sent out by a Washington state legislator surfaced that indicated that he is in support of a new tax on bicycle sales which acts as a carbon tax forcyclists who pollute the environment through the increased expulsion of carbon dioxide.
• Infections With 'Nightmare Bacteria' Are On The Rise In U.S. Hospitals (NPR)
• Pesticides are killing our sperm (Grist):
  George Washington University researchers pored over 17 scientific studies that were published between 2007 and 2012 and reported in the journal Toxicology that 15 of them found "significant associations between exposure to pesticides and semen quality indicators."
• Atmospheric Warming Altering Ocean Salinity And The Water Cycle (Climate Progress):
  A clear change in salinity has been detected in the world's oceans, signaling shifts and acceleration in the global rainfall and evaporation cycle tied directly to climate change.
• The New Sustainable Energy Factbook: A Strong Case for Consistent Policy (Bloomberg New Energy Finance, via Climate Progress.org):
  The report provides a detailed account of the energy market for investors and policymakers making a strong case for the role of stable policies in leveling the playing field for clean energy technologies in the evolving energy landscape.

New Research: World on Track for Climate Disaster:

• COVER STORY: It's Global Warming, Stupid (Businessweek):
  Yes, yes, it's unsophisticated to blame any given storm on climate change. Men and women in white lab coats tell us-and they're right-that many factors contribute to each severe weather episode. Climate deniers exploit scientific complexity to avoid any discussion at all.
  ...
  If all that doesn't impress, forget the scientists ostensibly devoted to advancing knowledge and saving lives. Listen instead to corporate insurers committed to compiling statistics for profit.
• CO2 Emissions Rises Mean Dangerous Climate Change Now Almost Certain (Guardian)
• Study: Sea Levels Rising 60% Faster Than Projected, Planet Keeps Warming As Expected (Climate Progress)
• Ocean Acidification: Animals are already dissolving in Southern Ocean (New Scientist)
• Global warming targets further out of reach, UN says (Phys.org):
  Based on current pledges, global average temperatures could rise by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5.4 to 9.0 degrees Fahrenheit) this century --- way above the two degrees Celsius being targeted, said a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report.
• Thawing of permafrost to be 'major factor' in global warming, warns UN report (UN News Centre)
• Must-Read: Economist William Nordhaus Slams Global Warming Deniers, Explains Cost of Delay is $4 Trillion (Climate Progress):
  Nordhaus's blunt piece - "Why the Global Warming Skeptics Are Wrong" - is worth reading because he is no climate hawk.

Essential Climate Science Background:

• Skeptical Science: Get the FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Arguments
• Report: Humans near tipping point that could dramatically change Earth (CS Monitor) [emphasis added]:
  Human activity is affecting Earth in many ways, but a new study suggests that continued population growth and its impact on climate and ecology could trigger a more profound chain reaction of effects within little more than a decade.
• VIDEO: James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change (TED Talks):
  Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about the future.
• VIDEO ANIMATION: Time history of atmospheric CO2 (NOAA Carbon Tracker YouTube channel):
• VIDEO: Animation Charts Modern Global Warming (NYT Green)
• Thinking Big: NREL Study Shows 80 Percent Renewables Possible By 2050 (Climate Progress)
• 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)
• How to Buy Time in the Fight against Climate Change: Mobilize to Stop Soot and Methane: A short list of relatively simple actions taken to reduce greenhouse gases other than CO2 could help put the brakes on global warming--if implemented globally (Scientific American)
• 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... "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)
• The Real Global Warming Signal (Tamino)
• No, global warming hasn't stopped (New Scientist)
• VIDEO: Climate Scientists Michael Mann on "A Look Into Our Climate: Past To Present To Future" (TEDx, YouTube)
• Earth's Plant Growth Fell Because of Climate Change, Study Finds (NYT Green)
• 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?