CLIMATE SKEPTICS NOT (AS) WELCOME: The BBC is telling its journalists that they no longer have to give equal time to climate skeptics, and should be more clear about the wide scientific consensus that climate change is real.
A report from the United Kingdom’s BBC Trust revealed that hundreds of journalists have already been through a new training course on giving the appropriate weight to scientific opinions that go against wide consensus. The report criticized the network for giving “undue attention to marginal opinion.”
{mosads}BBC isn’t trying to completely squash climate skeptics, but it wants viewers to understand that in the eyes of scientists, climate skeptics are not equal to climate change believers.
Read more here.
ON TAP TUESDAY I: Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy will promote her trip to Missouri for outreach on the agency’s Waters of the U.S. rule during a call with reporters Tuesday.
McCarthy will preview her trip scheduled for later this week. She plans to meet with farmers, stakeholders, and agricultural business leaders to talk about the proposed rule, which seeks to clarify the agency’s jurisdiction over the nation’s streams and wetlands. Missouri corn and soybean farmer Bill Heffeman will join McCarthy on the call.
McCarthy’s outreach is likely a move to quell fears that the proposal is a “power grab” by the agency. Republicans have criticized it as a broad overreach of the agency’s powers.
ON TAP TUESDAY II: A Senate Foreign Relations subpanel will hold a hearing on Europe’s energy security. Natural gas exports will likely be a main talking point during the hearing.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Diplomacy Amos Hochstein, and Hoyt Yee, deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs will testify at the hearing.
Rest of Tuesday’s agenda…
The Environmental Law Institute will hold a conference call about a recent research paper that argues for the “end of sustainability” as a goal for government leaders. It will feature a panel of university professors and government affairs professionals.
The Association for Demand Response and Smart Grid will hold a webinar exploring what recent policy decisions mean for both demand response and smart grid technologies. The panel of stakeholder experts will focus on the appeals court decision overturning the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authority to require demand response payments and the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed carbon pollution limits for power plants. Demand response looks to reduce or shift consumers’ energy use during peak hours.
AROUND THE WEB:
Noreen Walsh, a regional Environmental Protection Agency administrator in Montana, wrote in a memo that the agency cannot be certain what impact climate change has on the wolverine, overruling scientists who had said it threatens the animal’s habitat, the Associated Press reports.
Russia’s oil exports fell in the first half of this year to the lowest level in six years, Bloomberg reports.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection is sampling water from three river systems after the U.S. Geological Survey found intersex fish in waterways, likely due to chemical exposure, NPR reports.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Check out Monday’s stories…
– EPA refutes green group played key role in carbon rule
– General Motors to bulk up on solar panels at two plants
– GOP lawmakers call for ‘immediate change‘ at chemical board
– Interior officials push for conservation funding
– Regulator: Industry cooperation on offshore drilling is ‘critical‘
– Green group: Ernst wants to close EPA, Education Department
– IBM to help China control air quality
– Feds consider paying landowners to protect panther habitat
– BBC won’t give climate skeptics equal time
– Ex-Im Bank considers funding large India coal plant
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